"I probably should have shunted us closer to Roarhaven," Livena muttered, more to herself.

Valkyrie frowned. "You could shunt us back if you don't want to be walking for a day." They had already been walking for hours. It wasn't like Val didn't have the stamina, but it was meant to be her week off. She walked because she had to, not because she enjoyed it as a pastime.

"What, and have you run away from me almost immediately? I know you can easily overpower me if I took you back."

"Well, don't blame me for trying."

Livena turned around, frustration evident on her face. "Look, I understand that you are incredibly confused and frustrated about this whole situation. I would be too. But, it is vitally important that you are here, at this time. If you aren't here, Mevolent will prevail and the future you live in as you know it will never come to fruition."

Valkyrie gave her an incredulous look. "What exactly are you expecting me to do? Okay, so we are on our way to Roarhaven, we get to the camp looking bedraggled and then we need to come up with some excuse as to how we appeared out of thin air and why we suddenly want to join their cause. There are no records of my existence, nor yours for that matter, and I know full well that Mevolent is beaten long after the death of Skulduggery Pleasant, which is years from now as it is. This is still the early stages of the war, for god sake!" She paused to take a breath. "Are you talking about some weird butterfly effect or something, because I do not believe in that sort of shit. Surely, without me, Mevolent would be defeated. There is always another way!"

Livena was shaking her head. "Not this time. Believe me, I tried. I've been looking for years for a solution where you wouldn't need to live in this time period, but every time, it fails. My sister is a dimension shunter and we have looked in all time periods across all the different realities. But, the key is you."

"But how can I help if I don't even know how I meant to help?"

"It should all fall into place. And if it doesn't, I'll be here to nudge things into place. I'll be here to help, every step of the way."

"Please tell me I'm not going to be stuck here forever."

"I promise, on my life, that I will bring you back the second you have completed your role here."

Valkyrie sighed. "I feel like a pawn."

"Well, that's because you are. Do you want your reality to lose to Mevolent?"

"I guess not."

"Well, come on then. Roarhaven is not getting any closer. If we are lucky, we can hitch a ride." The purple girl skipped ahead, leaving Valkyrie trailing behind, her mind whirring.

A few hours later, as the light of dawn was beginning to appear in the sky, Livena stopped and set down her bag. Valkyrie drew close.

"What's up?"

"Clothing," Livena said, pulling out a bundle of brown fabric. "We need to look like 17th Century mortals."

Valkyrie looked at the bundle indignantly. "Its autumn. We are gonna freeze in these."

Livena shrugged. "You can wear some of your clothes underneath, as long as they can't be seen. You aren't exactly wearing time typical clothes."

Val inspected the clothes. It comprised of a long dress, long enough to cover her protective trousers, but not exactly practical. It came with a brown shawl and a bonnet to Valkyrie's indignation. The style was too close fitting to be able to wear her protective jacket underneath, somewhat disconcerting considering all her vital organs sat in her torso, not her legs. She relied an awful lot on her clothing bearing the brunt of most attacks she faced; she only really needed to pay attention to her head.

"Please tell me I'm going to get some protective clothing if I'm going to be here for a while," she said as she begrudgingly pulled on the dress.

"We can arrange that," Livena said, pulling on an almost identical outfit. "Ghastly Bespoke and his family are around, although I can't say the clothing they make is anything near as good as 2010 Bespoke." She quickly wrapped her plait around into a tight bun and pulled her own bonnet on. If she hadn't been bright purple, she would have blended right in. As it was, most of the lilac curls were hidden under the white bonnet, and her complexion wasn't aggressively purple in the dull light of the morning.

"What are you going to do about…" Valkyrie trailed off. Skulduggery was particularly relaxed about the fact that he was dead, considering he had 300 years to get used to it. She didn't know how sensitive Livena was about her complexion and she wasn't about to actively piss her off at this point.

"I have a facade," she said, nonchalantly. She didn't seem fazed at all by the query. Sure enough, she slid a finger behind her ear and her complexion shifted to a soft tan. "Come on, let's do your hair. You can't gad about with your hair down. I'm amazed that it doesn't get in your way when you are fighting people."

"I like it down though," she complained, but turned to let Livena faff with her hair. "And, for your information, I do put it back when I need to fight."

"Well, what if you are caught off guard?"

"I cope."

"Oh well, you'll need to get used to putting your hair into a bun at least."

"Must I?"

"I mean, there are very few other hairstyles considered appropriate for this period that aren't stupidly complex. The bun is a classic and works for a lot of time periods. But you can't leave it down anymore. You aren't a child."

Valkyrie stifled a groan of annoyance. She felt the final few tugs on her hair and then her periphery was suddenly obstructed by white frill. "Is the bonnet really necessary?"

"I know this one is ugly, but we will get you into something more fashionable as soon as we get to Roarhaven."

"Good. I'm not putting up with this look for long."

"You look the part at least," Livena said, tying the bonnet with a careful bow. "Let's keep moving."

It was odd walking around enclosed in the bonnet. It felt too vulnerable for Valkyrie, as she kept turning her head to assess her surroundings. At around midday, they came across a small village, and Livena haggled with a farmer for a ride east, towards Roarhaven.

"It won't get us all the way to Roarhaven, but at least we can rest for a while," she explained to Valkyrie as they settled themselves in the back of the cart.

"Do you at least know how far away Roarhaven is from here."

"Hopefully, we will get there by nightfall." Livena rummaged around in the bag and pulled out two sandwiches from the depths. The cart gave a lurch as it set off down the bumpy road. "Might as well have lunch."

It was dry, but Valkyrie wasn't about to complain. She hadn't eaten since the night before and her stomach had already been growling at her for several hours. She inhaled the flavourless meal before lying herself back in the cart to rest. She wasn't in the mood to talk to Livena and exhaustion was beginning to set in.