Ran pulled herself up onto the thatched straw roof and slumped back, staring up at the sky. Countless blinking stars hung above her and with a deep sigh of relief, she closed her eyes. The interior of Oracle's house seemed too small for her to sleep comfortably, its clean walls slinking ever closer to her every time she opened her eyes to scan the room in a paranoid frenzy. She remembered Outrider's shadowed figure laying a few paces away from her, snoring softly. She remembered the dramatic silhouette that Oracle cut in the dark of the room as the moonlight caught on the edges of her body, etching the imposing and proud form of a xatu sharp against the starry sky visible through the window behind her.

She remembered the quiet chespin, sleeping happily beneath Sentry's wing, his stubby arms hugging the fafetch'd's wing. Her memory snagged on Sentry. The farfetch'd slept the lightest of them all, and her sharp eye, shining in the moonlight that filtered through the windows, stared hard at Ran. The farfetch'd had watched her go silently, but Ran swore she saw Sentry's eyes close in a way that told her she was still listening. Even here on the roof, it made her feel uneasy. More than earned her name, I guess, thought Ran.

The squeak of the hinges on Oracle's door sent a shock through Ran's system and she sat bolt upright. Wood groaning and creaking met her ears and then a shadowed figure popped up in her vision as it pulled itself up onto the roof. The soft rustling of straw sounded much louder in the still night air, and when the figure spoke, she relaxed somewhat.

"I find it rather strange you chose here of all places to try and get some rest. Were you too warm in the house?" asked Outrider as he approached, his features becoming steadily more visible all the while.

Ran shook her head. "No, it's not that, I just-" She stopped and fidgeted under Outrider's gaze. "Sit down, you're making me nervous." she whispered. The lucario frowned and cocked his head, but complied nevertheless. "I wasn't feeling up to sleeping in a room with a bunch of strangers..."

"But you were fine with following one through a forest you didn't recognize? You were fine with being introduced to an entire village of strangers? You were fine with accepting an indefinite stay in this village of strangers? But you were not fine with sleeping in the same room as them."

Ran's ears drooped and she looked away, embarrassed. "Sorry."

"What for?" asked Outrider. He leaned back and stared up at the sky. "Or is that a sort of generalized apology?"

"I'm sorry for lying." Ran turned towards Outrider and continued, "Sleeping in there with everyone made me feel a little claustrophobic. A little... worried. The walls felt like they were closing in, so I ducked out to get some air and some space." She glanced around the roof and added with a sheepish grin, "The roof really isn't a bad place."

Outrider's mouth drew into a thin line as he hummed, low and pensive. "Threatened by the presence of so many unknowns?"

The weavile grimaced. "I can't be that easy to read, can I?"

"It is only logical. Nothing about your demeanor while we visited the others showed even the barest hint of discomfort with your surroundings, only with being in their general presence – though you did warm up to them after a time. Except perhaps for Watch, but that meeting was cut short." Ran bowed her head in shame at this. Outrider frowned and clicked his tongue."Raise your head." He reached out and lifted Ran's head to bring her gaze up to meet his own. "As I said, it was not your fault. Nevertheless, your propensity for lying is , I will admit, you have lied only to spare those around you their feelings."

Ran pulled away from Outrider's light grasp of her chin and looked down at the straw around her as she picked at it in a morose sort of way. "I'm new here. I don't want to say anything that gets me thrown out. Or worse."

"No one here is interested in stooping to savagery over something as trivial as a verbal slight, accidental or otherwise."

"I- I guess so."

"You don't believe me."

"I believe you about that. But I want to believe what's beyond that."

"What? That the company you've volunteered to keep is good at heart?"

Ran stared back at Outrider for a long while before nodding, a thoroughly miserable look on her face.

"Something keeps you from doing so."

"I don't know what it is. Something weird in my gut. It feels like a tightly knit bundle of brambles. I see the others, cheerful and helpful – mostly, anyway – and I just..." Ran shook her head. "And I feel on edge. Like something horrible is about to happen."

"Well..." began Outrider. He paused and closed his mouth, rubbing his chin and thinking. "If you're worried that some sort of ill of our own design is about to befall you, I can assure you, that is anything but the case."

"I really want to believe that."

"Well, perhaps you'll come to see the truth in my words once ill does fall upon our heads."

Ran's eyes widened. "What do you mean?" She scanned about, nervous and twitchy. "What's going on?"

"We used to believe it was misfortune, some suggested it was divine anger, and others called it the callous indifference of chance." Outrider smiled and chuckled, an act that left Ran both confused and petrified. "But in time we've come to know it simply as our lot." The lucario stood and stretched. "Inevitably, some wretched wildling or twisted creature finds its way to Nomad. Inevitably, some tired wanderer collapses on our border and speaks to us a tale we've heard countless times before – some evil pit that cuts down into the soil from which spew senseless violence, a maw that cannot be shut. And so, once again, into the waiting claws of the unknown do we venture, and find our collective resolve tested."

Ran stared up at Outrider and felt a peculiar sensation rush up down her spine. "To live?" she breathed.

The lucario regarded her with a grin. "Indeed. That is the wish of everyone here in Nomad: to live. That and one other thing."

"What?"

"To see to it that the others do as well." He offered her his paw. "Those are the duties expected of us, above all else, here. And so are they expected of you. What do you say?"

Ran reached out and gently took Outrider's paw in her own and let the lucario help bring her up to her feet. She stared back at the lucario's face and took a deep breath. "I'm still scared. I won't lie to you again and say that I believe you completely."

With a chuckle, Outrider said, "But you believe me on some level."

The weavile took several deep breaths and nodded. "Yes." She swallowed. "And I say... I want to live."

Ran could feel the warmth of the sun beating down on her eyelids and piercing them, and with a grunt of displeasure she rolled over in her pile of hay, away from the offending light. It was probably late in the day, her half-conscious mind reasoned, but she'd been up late on the roof with Outrider.

That was a mistake.

A loud and shrill musical note from somewhere in the village had her sitting bolt upright and then scrambling up to the window to see what was happening. A sableye was limping into the village, clutching a wrapped bundle of cloth in its arms as Sentry and her chespin directed it towards Plow and Planter's home. All the while, Sentry blew through the leek she bore, producing a piercing note that made Ran's head ache.

Outrider burst from the home of the falinks, followed closely by Watch, Trench and Tower and rushed over to their fellow villagers and the new stranger. Ran stifled a yawn and half-considered going back to sleep. The pile of straw behind her stared back at her invitingly, but then she felt the piercing gaze of Sentry bore a hole into the side of her head. Outrider's words echoed fresh in her ears, and with a sigh, she cursed herself for spending so much time on the roof talking to Outrider. She jumped out of the window and rushed over to the group of pokemon. "Haven't even had breakfast..." she muttered to herself.

As she approached the home of the village's farmers, she saw Planter burst out from her door, clutching an armful of berries and looking distraught. With the closer view she got of the sableye as she fell in beside Outrider, who offered her a sleepy-eyed nod, she noticed the red, gem-like right eye of the sableye was cracked. A shiver ran down her spine.

"Goodness, just look at you, you poor thing, what happened?" cried Planter. She offered the sableye several oran berries, but the pokemon shook its head.

"Please, it's alright, there's-" The sableye stopped and brought a finger up to his cracked eye with a sad smile. "There's not much you can do about this..." He unwrapped the bundle in his arms, revealing a frightened looking wynaut.

Upon seeing the sableye's face, the wynaut cried, "D-Dad? Your- your eye! What happened to your eye?"

The sableye shushed the wynaut. "Don't worry, Topaz, don't worry." The pokemon pulled his son into a tender embrace. "I'm going to be fine, all that matters is you're safe."

Plow's head peeked in from behind Planter and found the sableye. With a low whistle, he said, "Don't rightly think we grow anythin' that could put an injury like that right again, Planter. Leave the poor feller and his son be." A stone arm tipped with green bunches of false leaves pulled the lurantis into the home and shut the door as Plow added all the while, "This looks like business for our soldiers to deal with."

"Thanks for trying to help, Planter." called Sentry to the window beside the door.

"Haven't heard of anything that'll mend a crack like that," said Watch. Behind him, Tower and Trench agreed in unison. "But I've seen plenty that'll cause one. What'd you run into?"

"A mamoswine," said the sableye. "It was furious. And terrifying. I haven't seen a pokemon so violent in all my travels."

"Did it give chase?" asked Outrider.

"For a time. I lost it near a tree with strange markings on it." The sableye leaned to look past Outrider and pointed at the falinks' home. "Looked a bit like what's on those banners."

"Aren't those trees usually close by?" asked the chespin beneath Sentry's wing.

"Some are, yes, little one." replied the farfetch'd.

"Where did you come in from?" asked Outrider immediately to the sableye.

The sableye pointed towards the southeast. "From around there, I think." Outrider looked to Sentry, who nodded.

"Then it wasn't that close by," said Outrider.

"Was it hurt?" asked Ran. Everyone turned to look at her and she quailed immediately under the attention. "S-sorry."

"For what?" asked Outrider. Ran simply shook her head.

"Not very," replied the sableye. He hung his head. "I'm not a fighter. I'm a merchant. I was on my way to Treasure Town."

Watch chuckled. "Long and lonely road."

"And a bitter one too. I dropped the bag with all the stones I was going to trade in Treasure Town. Probably scattered around the location where that crazed beast ruined my namesake." At the looks of confusion on everyone's faces, the sableye added, "Jasper. Still my favorite snack to this day." He touched his cracked eye and added bitterly, "Cracked Jasper doesn't have a very good ring to it."

"Everyone is being really casual about an angry mamoswine being nearby," observed Ran, visibly on edge.

"What do you want us to do? Panic?" asked Watch. "Sentry hasn't heard it or seen it, Outrider hasn't sensed it, and there's no heavy thumping from its footfalls or falling trees crashing down in the forest."

"It just sounds like a serious threat..." mumbled Ran.

"It is. But that calls for a plan, not panic."

The weavile frowned. "So what do we do?"

"Trench?" asked Watch.

"Propose a standard hunt, Bastion."

Watch let out a low hum. "Tower. Alternative?"

"No bait for traps, no understanding of objective, and no knowledge of current location. I second Trench's plan, Bastion."

At this, Watch looked between Ran and Outrider. "A hunt then. All in favor?" Outrider nodded, and Ran did so a moment later. "Hunt it is."

"You're going to hunt it down?" asked Jasper, looking alarmed. Beside him, Sentry took off soundlessly, leaving the chespin looking confused as she soared towards Oracle's home.

Watch nodded as he clanged his shields together. "Can't have it rampaging about so close to the village. Fall in."

"We'll try to get you your stones back as well," added Outrider tugging at the cloth tied around his arm.

"I don't have anything I could pay you with for something like this..." mumbled Jasper, casting his gaze down and shrinking back.

Outrider chuckled. "Be glad you didn't hire us for this then. We'll return soon." At this, Sentry landed once more and tossed Outrider a leather bandolier bearing several small pockets and one very large one. He pulled another striped strip of cloth from the largest pouch and then pulled the bandolier across his body. "Ran, put this on."

The weavile took the cloth from him and stared down at it silently. Something like a tiny little trickles of electricity ran from the top of her head down to her toes. Ran scratched at her neck without realizing before tying the cloth around it and fiddling about with her new, improvised scarf. She was silent for a moment longer before she said in a quiet voice, "Thank you." She paused and then added, "What are these for anyway? Just identification?"

Outrider nodded. "Makes it easy to identify you in a crowd."

"I wasn't under the impression crowds were a huge problem out here in the middle of basically nowhere..." replied Ran.

"Makes it easy to identify a corpse." Watch looked over one of his shields before marching towards the southeast. "Fall in, you two." He looked at Ran and then Outrider.

Outrider lined up behind Trench and gestured for Ran to join him. As she approached she said in an undertone, "That was grim."

"The truth often is."

Ran rolled sideways to avoid the tree the mamoswine knocked down in the midst of its rampage. It hit the forest floor with a heavy thud, partially crushing a second tree in the process. She scrambled up another, shorter tree nearby and crouched atop a thick bough. "Outrider! What are we even doing?" The entire "fight" against the mamoswine had been largely evasive, with Watch, Trench and Tower rushing from the brush now and again to fling themselves directly at the mamoswine's sides before dashing off again.

Below her, crouched low to the ground, Outrider looked on as the rampaging mammoth continued to crash through the vegetation of the forest, searching for the scattered falinks. Panting, he replied, "We're trying to tire... tire it out. But I get the feeling that's not working." He stood up and balled his paws up into fists, wreathing them into a gentle aqua glow all the while. "Might need to be a bit more direct." His gaze flicked to Ran. "Up for helping?"

The weavile grimaced and looked away. "I don't know if I should..."

Next to Outrider, the three falinks that accompanied them emerged from a large bush, all of them breathing heavily. "Having a good time, you two? Not like there's a war on or anything," grumbled Watch.

"We were just about to shift to more active measures of bringing that beast down," explained Outrider. He continued to stare up at Ran before adding, "If you fear you'll disembowel it then at least keep it distracted for me. I'm going to strike from above. In the meantime, you three stay here and catch your breath." At this, the lucario took off towards the rampaging mamoswine.

Ran shivered and steeled herself, muttering, "Distraction, distraction, distraction..." She jumped down from her bough and tore off after Outrider, before passing him up and dashing down the line of devastation their quarry had cut through the forest. The path the pokemon took veered right, and as she turned to keep on its trail, she found herself staring down the mamoswine. Perhaps thirty paces away, it let out a huge scream that shook the trees around them. Ran took off at a full sprint towards the mamoswine as it reared back, screeching and then charged forward as well.

They were no more than ten paces apart when she sprung up and exhaled a blast of freezing air beneath her, forming a large ice platform for her to stand on. She grabbed hold of the sides as the chunk of ice fell sharply towards the mamoswine, crashing into the crown of its head and shattering apart. She tumbled forward and grasped for the fur on the mamoswine to keep herself from flying entirely off of the thrashing beast. She hoisted her head up high enough to see Outrider running at the pokemon and launching several spheres of cyan at the mamoswine.

As the spheres struck the mammoth, it began to thrash with such force that Ran's grip slipped completely from the small clump of fur she had seized awkwardly with her clawed paws. She felt herself begin to fall away from the mamoswine and screamed, grasping feverishly at fur, desperate to avoid falling beneath the rampaging pokemon. Instinctively, she thrust her claws into the mamoswine to stop her fall.

This earned her an earsplitting bellow and even more violent thrashing as the mamoswine tore off into the forest, deliberately slamming its side against trees in a desperate bid to rid itself of Ran. She could barely hear Outrider's unintelligible yells as the mammoth ran deeper into the forest, and turned her focus completely to trying to scale the beast's side. I can't get a good hold of its fur... Stupid claws. She looked at the blood pooling around them and shuddered. Her vision went black for half a second before she was nearly thrown off of the mamoswine again and was brought her crashing back to reality. She was holding on with only one paw, her other was reared back and ready to strike again.

She grit her teeth and shouted to herself, "Stop!"

Something slammed into Ran and sent her sailing off the mamoswine. Her right arm was on fire. Something in her side throbbed. Then it occurred to her she was staring at the sky, obscured now and again by the canopy. The wind rushing around her. An azure sky marked with fluffy white clouds. The edges of her vision were bright and clear again. The world went black.

Somehow, Ran was floating. It was divine, but the flashes of light that hit her eyes bothered her. It was a light beyond her eyelids. Her eyes were closed. She tore them open and nearly fell out of Outrider's arms.

"What- what happened? Outrider?" she asked, confused. The crown of her head began to throb, and she became acutely aware of the pain along the right side of her body. She grimaced and added, "I feel awful. What happened?"

"Cracked your head on a tree, looks of it," replied Watch. Ran turned in Outrider's arms and saw the falinks leading the way ahead, his two comrades following closely behind him. A bag hung from his horn and draped across his back.

Ran frowned. "I- I remember clinging onto the mamoswine." She grimaced and sucked in a sharp breath of air as her arm twinged again. "And then just...black."

"Probably got knocked into a tree," reasoned Trench, "Forest is full of them, after all. Lucky you didn't split your head open."

"Lucky that mamoswine don't run too terribly fast, more like," said Tower.

"She's alive and well is what matters, you three," said Outrider. "Whether fortunate or not doesn't matter now."

"Hn. Point but either way, wasn't the brightest of ideas what she did," noted Watch.

"All I did was try to distract the mamoswine," said Ran.

"By getting' on top of it?"

"Well, I figured it'd try to throw me off once I was hanging onto it."

"And it did just that, it seems."

"Well you got the stones back and my guess is you all managed to deal with the mamoswine given how casually we're walking back to Nomad..." Ran crossed her arms and pouted. She felt tremendously stupid. "It wasn't a bad idea..."

Outrider chuckled and whispered to her, "It wasn't, but it was also not what you'd call a fully realized plan. I am able to improvise rather well, but believe me, having to follow up that stunt you pulled with that icicle was rather difficult given how far away I was when I saw you do it. Especially since I said I would be the one to strike from above."

Ran looked away and mumbled, "I was just trying to help..."

"And so you did. At a cost to no one but yourself, even. Rather remarkable. Usually when plans hit snags they tend to be rather indiscriminate with who they inconvenience."

"That was just luck."

"And we'll take luck when it comes. After all, I'm sure you've learned from this ordeal," said Outrider gently.

Ran looked up at the lucario and frowned. "I blacked out."

"Well yes, you hit-"

"No, I mean... When I was clinging to it. I had to stab into it to keep a good hold and not get tossed off. Then when I saw what I had done something clicked and my vision went black for a moment." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "But then I almost fell off and suddenly I was awake again, arm reared back, ready to just-" She paused and jabbed her left arm into the air. "And then I got run into a tree." She smiled in spite of herself. "Good thing too, I guess."

"You showed restraint."

"How? I stabbed into it. I was going to really start stabbing into it too, I just know it. It was just like with that scrafty." Her stomach turned at the thought.

"You chose to stab into it to keep hold of it." He shifted Ran around in his arms so she was being supported by just one arm and used his now free one to hold up one of her paws. "Look at these things. They're all cruel razors hiding a tiny patch of soft padding somewhere far away. In your position I would have done the same thing." He went back to supporting her with both arms and continued, "Besides, you were interested in simply keeping your grip on the mamoswine, and if that meant you had to give it a few new holes, then so be it."

Ran sighed. "I guess so." She frowned and looked up at Outrider, inquisitive. "What did happen to the mamoswine?"

"Out cold. Should stay that way for some time too, given the beating Tower and Trench gave it," replied Watch.

"But it's going to wake up again, isn't it?" asked Ran.

"Of course it is, but we'll be back by then and ready to punt it somewhere else," said Tower.

Trench began to laugh. "Sentry's gonna be real pleased to know we're going to need her feathers again."

"The kid's gotten good at plucking them out, she won't be too bothered by it," said Watch.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ran.

"You'll see soon enough. Won't spoil the surprise for you."

Ran sat against the wall of Plow and Planter's home, watching the exchange before her with great interest while Planter cooed by her, wrapping her arm and midsection in soft cloth and rubbing her cheek.

"Just look at what that little excursion did to you," she whined. "You're a mess."

The weavile took another bite out of one of the three oran berries the lurantis had forced on her and said thickly, "You're worrying too mush." She swallowed and continued, "A little rest and I'll be good to go."

"Well you certainly aren't going with them today. They can use their little wand without you just fine."

Ran nodded, deciding against arguing with a very worried but firm-sounding Planter, and turned her attention back to the scene before her.

Sentry looked displeased. "You'll get your feathers, I'm just wondering why it's always me that gets plucked." She flapped her wings once for effect.

"Who else would we use?" asked Watch.

"Oracle? She's got plenty of feathers too, you know," replied Sentry, exasperated. "The wand needs feathers, why does it matter that they're mine?"

"Oracle's feathers don't produce the desired effects when attuned with wandwood. We've explained that before," said Outrider.

"I just keep hoping Oracle or Planter will have some kind of breakthrough," grumbled Sentry. She shook her head and then turned her attention to the chespin beside her. "Looks like you're plucking some feathers, little one."

The chespin nodded and asked, "How many?"

"Hopefully not many."

Watch let out a short, sharp laugh. "I wish it wasn't very many Sentry, I really do, but it's a mamoswine. Maybe if we were trying to blow the kid away we could use a little feather from the top of your head, but we're going to need a good bit of them from your wings for something that big."

Sentry slouched and groaned. "Several?"

"Easily half a dozen."

The farfetch'd shuddered and held a wing out. "Well, get started little one." She swallowed hard. "Six feathers. Be swift."

As the chespin began combing through Sentry's wing looking for the longest feathers, Tower and Trench returned to the group. "Stones delivered, Bastion," said Trench.

"Sounds like Jasper and his son are ready to be on their way," added Trench. "Should be leaving shortly."

"They need food!" said Planter, leaping to her feet. "Ran, I'll be gone for only a few minutes, so eat those berries in the meantime, alright?"

Ran took another bite from her second oran berry and nodded. Something told her Planter's caring disposition made ignoring her recommendations less than ideal. She watched as the chespin plucked feathers from Sentry, each pull filling the air with a loud squawk of pain.

With some difficulty, she suppressed her chuckles and turned her attention to the small Jasper as he approached, waving off the bag of berries Planter offered him before eventually relenting and taking it as the lurantis grew progressively more insistent. Topaz hopped alongside his father happily all the while, coming to a stop just behind him as the sableye addressed the group.

"Thank you all very much for what you've done for my son and I," said Jasper, clasping his hands together. "You've saved... a great deal. Lives, livelihoods and innocence, to name a few." He dug into the sack of stones he held and pulled several out to hand to Outrider. "Take these, and no, I will not take no for an answer. You've more than earned them, you deserve them." He bowed his head. "Thank you again."

"Yeah, thanks for helping Dad out!" added Topaz, bouncing up and down.

Outrider tucked the stones into a pouch at his side and nodded at Jasper. "We are all very glad we could help. Take care on the road."

"We're in your debt," said Jasper. He smiled at the group before scooping his son up and heading out of Nomad.

As the group waved them off, Ran caught sight of Oracle approaching. "Is he off? I insisted he stay for a spot of dinner. Oh well. Sentry, how are you feeling? Did the little one pluck off too many feathers?" asked the xatu.

The farfetch'd rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, I'm sure you're very happy you don't have to deal with this," she grumbled. "But we've got the feathers you need."

Oracle chuckled and pulled the feathers telekinetically from the chespin when he held them up to offer them to her. "Excellent. Then Planter, if you will, we've a wand to make."

"Alright, but I was tending to Ran, could I take care of that first?" asked the lurantis, shuffling her gaze between the xatu and Ran.

"I'm fine, Planter, really," said the weavile, taking another bite of her third oran berry for added effect. "Jush go without me."

"Just bring her along Planter, I'm sure she'll be delighted to watch you work, and we'll all be spared your worries," reasoned Oracle. Her twinkling eyes met Ran's gaze and she tossed a wing dramatically out towards her home. "Come along."

Planter nodded and rushed over to help Ran stand, but the weavile was already on her feet and moving after the xatu's retreating back.

"You shouldn't stand up so fast!" squeaked Planter.

Ran smiled. "Does Plow tell you that you worry too much?"

The lurantis' shoulders drooped. "All the time. He swears it'll be the death of me, but someone has to watch out for the pokemon of the village!"

Ran cast her gaze downward. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it! The village owes its safety to the things you and the others do for it," she replied. "Not everyone is cut out for combat, you know."

"Really?" asked Ran. "I would have thought Hammer would be good for it..."

"Hammer, Forge and Stone are all..." The lurantis trailed off and awkwardly rubbed her shoulder. "The second line of defense, as it were." She looked Ran in the eyes. "Sentry would be the first."

"I thought that's what Outrider and Watch's comrades were."

"They're a proactive force. Yes, technically, they are also first, but the work they do – and the work you do, now – is what keeps us from ever having to rely on Sentry for anything but lookout duty."

"Why does she have her eye covered, anyway?" asked Ran.

"Hmmm... You should ask her yourself some time," said Planter. "I wouldn't say that's my story to tell."

A purple glow surrounded the stick that lay upon the polished stone block between Oracle and Planter. It lifted up and hovered a few inches above the shining black rock. Ran noticed several strange symbols were carved into the stone and every so often a few of them would glow a soft cyan.

They were in a small clearing just behind Oracle's home, but Ran noticed that the grass here around the stone was tinted an array of faint purples, blues and reds. She leaned against a tree and was surprised to find it enormously cold against her back. She turned and ran a paw along the trunk and found the tree felt more like stone than wood.

"What's happening here?" she called out to the xatu and lurantis.

Oracle tilted her head and the shaft before her began to spin slowly. "Wand-making. The stone between us is a rune-anchor. Took Stone ages to find and even longer to bring back, but it was well worth it." Her gaze shifted up to Planter. "Planter has a gift for filling wood with words to shout to the world around it."

"Don't flatter me," said Planter, inclining her head. "Call it a gift, yes, but I hardly find my ability remarkable." She raised a delicate claw and then took a long, deep breath. The wood shaft stopped spinning and the thickest portion now pointed towards Planter. In one fluid set of motions, she carved a sequence of symbols into the shaft of wood above the rune-anchor. Wood shavings filled the air and rained down on the black stone, and Ran jumped as they touched its surface and puffed into small plumes of brilliant white smoke. More runes on the stone began to glow a stronger cyan.

"Affix the feathers," said Planter, looking up at Oracle to give her a nod.

The same purple glow around the stick surrounded the feathers and brought them up from the ground and laid them out in concentric circle patterns at the thinnest part of the stick. A glowing length of grass cord flew up from the ground with a click of Oracle's beak, and wound itself around the stick to secure the feathers before tying itself into a knot. The xatu rolled the stick over and nodded at Planter.

Again, the lurantis took a deep breath and then carved another set of runes into the stick in the blink of an eye. She exhaled long and slow, and then said, "Let it go, and in so doing let it fulfill its purpose."

The glow faded from the stick, but it did not fall. Ran heard the whisper of rushing wind tickle her ears and the stick slowly righted itself in the air, until it gently bobbed up and down, floating perpendicular to the stone beneath it.

"Excellent work once again, Planter," said Oracle, looking pleased.

"Don't congratulate me yet. We're not sure if it works," mumbled Planter.

"It's floating!" said Ran, incredulous. "How could it not work?"

The lurantis chuckled. "Experience. You want to be the brave one to give it a wave?"

Ran walked forward and took the wand in her claws. "How do I use it?"

"Point it at something and believe. Let that belief flow from you into the wood," explained Oracle.

"Believe what?"

"Believe that it will work. You need not know what a wand does, you need only trust it. Do so, and it will trust you. Do so, and you will know when it has given all it has to give," she added.

Ran looked about and spotted a small boulder, no larger than half her height. She strode over and looked down uneasily at the wand, then at the rock. She raised the stick and pointed at the stone. "Hah!" she shouted.

Oracle burst into laughter behind Ran, and she could also hear Planter politely chuckling. "No need to vocalize," explained Oracle. "But it is imperative you believe. You do not, and no amount of shouting will make up for that. Again."

Believing was hard work. After several dozen insistent flourishes, Ran stared down at the wand with incredible frustration. "Why isn't it working!?" she shouted.

"Perhaps we did something wrong..." wondered Planter.

Oracle chuckled. "We didn't. She's just not committed." She strode over beside Ran and brought a wing up to her and pulled her in.

The weavile turned and looked at the xatu. "I can't do it."

"You aren't allowing yourself to," said Oracle. "Allow yourself to. Believe you can do it. Believe it will work."

"Couldn't I just...shout something? Tell it, 'hey, work!' and then it does so?" asked Ran, desperate.

"No, but that would be nice, wouldn't it?" reasoned Oracle. "Believe. Trust the wand. I know you can do it."

"You sure?" asked Ran.

"Everyone here is," said Oracle, patting Ran on the back as she did. "Now show that boulder what for."

Ran looked Oracle in the eyes, then down at the wand, then at the boulder. The fight to cling to the mamoswine earlier began to weigh on her thoughts. She shook her head insistently, trying to clear it and mumbled to herself, "Just do it, just do it, just do it..." She sighed and stepped forward, and in one motion flourished the wand at the boulder.

It went sailing out above the treetops as a huge rush of wind exploded from the tip of the wand, but Ran noticed that it left the grass around the boulder, the trees behind it – everything – completely still. Awestruck, she glanced down at the wand and then back at Oracle and Planter.

"Great job!" cheered Planter.

Oracle nodded in agreement. "Excellent work indeed, Ran." She paused and then looked out past the trees. "But I liked perching on that boulder. It was my favorite."

Ran looked mortified. "I'm sorry!"

"I'm kidding."

The weavile pouted. "Stop doing that!"