NOTE: This is derived from the "Swept Away" RP continuity which started in 2007 and has continued in various forms and spinoffs ever since, first on the old Hillbilly Hell forum and presently in Wingnut City. I'm sure it's not the first or only "Humans in the Carsverse" thing that ever came up, but boy, has it had staying power. By the in-RP timeline, the events of Planes 2 would be taking place perhaps 6 years after the humans' arrival.

Disclaimer: Don't own no canon characters. They belong to Disney. Weesa be makin' no money offa dis!

NOTE: Okay, might as well officially call this a crossover now, with all the Chronicles of Amber elements in it.

Kemy'lii, daughter of Doshi'met, mother to two living sons and a daughter, was not one to simply leave things to settle. Despite her own mother's admonitions, she had set out for the grazing commons that their people had marked out for themselves among the meadows that surrounded Ash Mountain. It was a two-hour ride, and then a river crossing, to where the family herd was kept; upon arrival Kemy noticed immediately that Taki was loose with the herd and the high mare, N'Sheki, was absent. Of her one surviving daughter, there was not a sign but for the empty hut – completely empty, all gear and personal items gone. There were no recent tracks, or any other sign. Unlike the children, she was not so well-versed with the protocol of the radio, so the people back at the Ash Mountain comm shack had a bit of a time making sense of her call for help. But once they comprehended, the response was swift. In twenty minutes, one of the native "users" touched down on a bare patch three hundred yards off, and then made her way over to the campsite to find Kemy half beside herself - pacing, muttering and gesticulating such that her own mount had become skittish of her. The Harrier woman had to wait another half-minute before her presence finally made an impression on the Nomad.

Nevertheless, as Dusty had said at the lodge, Shayla Langford cut a very... impressive figure indeed.

"OK, Kemy." Shayla sniffed around the archway of the hut. The scent was weeks old, but Nomad youngsters were often expected to tend stock for weeks without adult supervision. It depended, in essence, on how "adult" was defined. "When was the last time you communicated with her?"

"Twenty-second of... June." Kemy answered, slowly doing the math to synchronize her own people's calendar system with the Gregorian. "It's been three weeks. Even during the "away" time we still keep in touch, these days. Do you scent the mare? Any sign of her?

"Which one?" Shayla glanced to the herd.

"The black one with a blaze and socks and yellow eyes." Kemy's hands waved and shook. "N'Sheki, we call her. She's war-horse stock, and has the temper of a she-wolf. That bitch could have thrown my daughter down a ravine for all we know. Gods know what could've happened to her!"

The Harrier jet backed off from the hut, thinking. Finding a trace of the girl on the ground was earth magic and not her forte. This was business for Kathleen, the geomancer. Within minutes, Shayla was on the radio with the old Skyraider, asking if she could take a reading of the general vicinity of the grazing commons. After an hour, Kathleen got back to them.

"That girl isn't anywhere on the commons." Kathleen's voice, though tinged with static, was clear. "She's not even in the Ash Mountain reserve, or the Ravenlands."

"Where could she have gone?" Kemy's voice was rising. "It's only vehicles out there! What could she be doing?"

Shayla frowned, casting her elegantly chiselled head to either side. There were spirit-traces here. "Kemy, is your daughter doing any spirit-talking yet? I keep getting little signs that she's been keeping company with... something." The jet settled, like a great hawk mantling, over a patch of grass, staring at the slender blades. Her vision saw faint glows here and there, the leave-behinds of a spirit who had decided to linger awhile.

"I hope not." Kemy turned abuprtly. "My mother, her grandmother, fills her head with notions of becoming a shaman. But how is that possible when Mother herself cannot reach our Lady or our ancestors here? It would have been better if Mii kept up with her singing."

"Well, it's obvious that Mii's been reaching something." Shayla rose again. "Kathleen is probably on the horn with Elena as we speak. If I know her, she's going to want to keep this discreet, and I could see her point. We'll have a meeting as soon as you get back. Kathleen and I will pass the word around to everyone who needs to know." The jump-jet returned to the same bare patch she'd alighted on, and lifted off into the sky.

That night, there had been some pointed back-and-forth in the center of the main Nomad encampment, but Elena finally managed to sell the combined council of Mountainers, Nomads and resident vehicles on her plan of action. As the sun touched the horizon she saddled Moonstone, her Amber-bred cremello charger, and, before all assembled, "hellrode" into nothingness; others would rendezvous once she had found a definite trail and location.

Mii opened her eyes, and around her, there was a slight distortion, as if the atmosphere was half water. But she was standing on a wood floor, looking around as cars and others were scrambling in panic, desperate to be anywhere else but HERE. Tendrils of smoke were already blowing in from the ridge. The extensive bare space outside would keep the ground flames back, but what of the sparks that could alight on the roof of this all-wood structure? The lodge's resident fire engine was too caught up in evacuation efforts to really think about that at present.

So transfixed was she that she didn't notice a pitty running right through her... then, she saw another humanoid across the room, walking through the stationary fixtures and the bodies of vehicles. It was a woman, taller than she'd ever seen in the flesh, pale of skin, with dark brown hair pulled back and gathered into a high half-up tail that cascaded down her back like a deep umber waterfall. The woman was clad in a short, sleeveless black dress with a straight-across neckline and straps that crossed over the bare shoulder blades of her back, with high black D'Orsay-styled pumps and gloves that reached to the upper arms. Mii had seen the Mountainers dressed a bit like that, on special occasions. She had even tried on some of their dresses, but couldn't see the appeal of tottering around on those heels. But, the women who regularly wore such things could walk and even dance in them.

Then, the woman turned, meeting Mii's gaze with hazel eyes that seemed to be rimmed with smoke. Her wine-red lips opened, formed words that seemed to be as attenuated and distorted as light pulled into a black hole. "Everything... you see... is ... what... I... am... not...only...shadow...this place... it is... born of pattern... and of what was me. When... you... see Elena... tell her."

In spite of her current projected state, Mii'Auww couldn't help but yelp and jump aside as a blinding-white SUV came at her, and passed through her retreating hip. The esteemed Mr. Spinner, using every profanity he knew, had come barreling out from wherever his office was, scattering some small items in his wake. Some of them were dark, oblong memory sticks of the dominant type used in this universe. Momentarily, some of the little gold sweepers descended on the fallen objects, to collect them like any other detritus. One of them was the one with the dent, moving at a limping pace, but still ambulatory. He picked up two of the memory sticks before the old ranger bus happened by, looked down at them soberly, then opened a rear compartment door and whistled them inside. "Dent" was the last, having trouble mounting up. One of the baristas came over to pick him up and put him inside.

"Found you!" another voice blared behind Mii. She turned to see the face of Wally, looking less annoyed than... scared and relieved; on him, entirely alien expressions. "Nick woulda never forgiven me if you'd died on me! You need to come right back to..." his eyes almost popped. "Who the #$% is SHE?"

"Your guess as good as mine." Mii snapped back. "What about Nick, and the others?"

"They were just getting out of the cave, last I heard from him." Wally answered, "The burn-over is complete, but he said Blade took a beating from the heat. I just hope the damn fool doesn't try to get airborne like that. That's enough heroic sacrifice for one day."

Mii looked back to the chaos playing out around her. "And Dusty?"

"Oh, he's fine, for now, thanks to Blade. Would've been pretty crispy otherwise." Wally grimaced. "Our backfire shortened the burn-over duration just enough, I think." His eyes returned to the woman across the room. "Lady, just who are you? I'm sorry I swore a minute ago." That was the first time Mii had heard Wally apologize for much of anything.

The woman turned back. "To speak... to... your gods again... without the intercessor... summon... the host of the battle-slain... first light of day... for an act.. of..a warrior." She turned away once again, and melted into the air.