Saint Dane stared down at the injured Traveler who lay crouched against the wall of the hut. She hadn't noticed him, and her head was starting to droop as she fell into semi-consciousness. She had sent off her irksome new friend to find help, most likely. Either that or the vile girl had simply deserted her.

He had taken on his avian form, and was resting on a branch overlooking the area. He stared down at Aria as she clutched her side, and he could hear her groaning softly in pain from his perch.

His frustration gnawed at him. He could scarcely believe she had dared to attack him. Of course, he knew that Pendragon would have done the same thing in the given situation. The obsession with preserving life – no matter how tedious or insignificant – was one of the hallmarks of a Traveler from Solara. Nevertheless…

His long black claws tightened around the branch, digging into the bark and leaving deep little scores. She had taken his gun. Why? Had she intended to use it against him had he pursued? Was it simply to keep him from shooting them? It lay there beside her, forgotten now as her awareness drifted. He ruffled his wings, shaking the branch slightly and reasserting his balance.

She jerked her head up when he disturbed the bough, startled by the noise. She looked around, fear etched on her face. After scanning the foliage groggily, her eyes trailed up to his branch.

She stared blankly at him for a moment, and Saint Dane wondered if she recognized him for what he was. Then she smiled, and began giggling. Clearly Press had not mentioned to keep an eye out for large black birds. More fool him.

He cocked his head as she called up to him, "Hullo, raven! Tell me what thy lordly name is, on this night's plutonian shore?" She began laughing madly at this.

Edgar Allen Poe. How quaint.

He eyed the wound on her side. Although he hadn't intended to do more than nick her with the blade, she was bleeding moderately and clearly in no fit state to help herself. No one had arrived, and he wondered if the Milago girl had abandoned her after all.

He narrowed his eyes. He did not need to keep his avian form a secret from the girl, and furthermore it might be fun to toy with her a bit more.

He decided that he would confront her again. After all, they hadn't gotten much of a chance to talk during their encounter, and he intended to get to know his enemy eventually at any rate. Once she was unconscious – and he could certainly speed that process along if the blood-loss wasn't as severe as it seemed – he would take on a new guise and carry her to one of the medics in the village. At any rate, it would give him a chance to reclaim his gun, though he was curious as to how the girl may use it if he left it in her care.

She was still looking at him, though the laughter had trailed off. Just as he prepared to glide down to her, his eye caught movement just beyond the building. The irksome Milago girl had brought help after all.

Alder approached, along with his Traveler-to-be…Tarek. Saint Dane dismissed the boy as much of a threat. Although his combat experience was rather impressive – goodness knows Aria would need someone to cover her on that front – he was a dull boy. Good, hardworking, and honest. One of the hardest people to manipulate. Saint Dane held nothing but contempt for him.

He settled back down as Alder came around the side of the building. When he saw Aria, his eyes widened with concern, and he knelt by her side. They spoke for a moment, then he lifted her carefully up and turned to walk away.

Saint Dane narrowed his eyes and swept off the branch, effortlessly gaining altitude and circling around to watch the scene a moment longer. He saw that Tarek take notice of the gun, and bent down to inspect it. He picked it up, looked at it curiously, and actually went so far as to try to peer down the muzzle.

Oh, please pull the trigger.

Normally it irked him to watch inexperienced fools flaunt guns around carelessly, as though they were toys to be toted about and shown off, but goodness knows it would bother him little to see the Traveler put a round through himself.

He knew that it would make little difference in the grand scheme of things. Alder would simply revive the boy, as Pendragon had done with Loor so long ago on Zaada. Still, it would be a significant drain on their Solara's energy, and it would be amusing to watch besides.

But no. Tarek simply slung his pack off his shoulders and stowed it in there. It likely wouldn't go off on its own now – the trigger was particularly heavy. Still, there was always a chance.

The Milago girl was standing nearby as well. He looked at her carefully. Had she seen his deed in the clearing? He certainly hoped not. If she spread the news now, before he had found what he was looking for…Alas, he hadn't the time to deal with her now.

He wheeled in the sky, heading north towards the Bedoowan town. His men were awaiting Sawil's orders. It wouldn't do to keep them waiting. His eye flickered back to Alder, and deep inside, he smiled coldly.

Care for them while you can, Traveler. Your days on this territory are numbered.

She ran through the darkness. The tunnels echoed around her, their stony walls reflecting the terrible roar of whatever was chasing her. She turned, left, right, left, left again. As she fled down earthy corridors that were almost familiar, she began to pant in exhaustion.

As she ran, nearly knowing where she was going, the tunnels began to change. Now they were rounder, more solid, and the stone was dark grey. Concrete. Small pipes ran along the walls, carrying their mysterious contents from nowhere to nowhere.

"What…?" A voice spoke. It seemed to come from the same place the pipes led - nowhere. "No, no. Back to the caves, go on, nice and easy. Go – back—"

But she knew where she was now, and she ran blindly forward, trying to escape even as she drew closer to what she feared. Dark, empty florescent lights lined the walls of the smooth stone tunnels, a rail sweeping by at her side. She was moving too fast, much too fast.

She emerged at last in the huge room, a steady drip of water echoing off the concrete walls and concrete floor. Four giant stone cylinders protruded slightly from the floor, each covered, and each with a large square door in the middle. One could lift it up to access the contents inside, or to deposit something if they cared to.

Her feet had carried her to the edge of the third platform, and even as she looked she told herself she would go no further. As she turned, she saw the man standing there in a shabby, dark grey trench coat, his face hidden by the brim of a hat. She backed up involuntary, taking a high step to get onto the cylinder's lid, and as she did so she realized that the lid had turned to wood, that it was the platform which covered the entrance to the mineshaft, the deepest one, in the middle of the village.

She froze, again. The trap door was open, her heels touched the darkness that nestled just below her. She would go no further, she wouldn't go back down. But the man had other plans. As Aria looked into his face she saw the eyes flash blue.

She was falling backwards. Downwards. She pinwheeled her arms, a cry caught in her throat, and though half of her was afraid she was going to fall forever, a long moment later she hit the surface of the water. As soon as she was under she began to thrash, trying to regain the surface, trying to fight off the panic.

"Aria? It's—" The voice was familiar.

…but the water was colder than ice, so cold it actually burned her, and it felt like someone had pressed a white-hot iron into her side—

"—up, it's alright, Aria!"

It was dark, it was cold, she couldn't resurface, couldn't move, couldn't breathe—

"Aria! Wake up! Aria!" A man's voice implored her.

Her eyes flew open, and she began gasping desperately, trying to catch her breath. She still couldn't move because she was being held down by someone. Didn't they know she couldn't swim if they held her like that? How was she supposed to reach the surface if she couldn't move her arms?

"Calm down! It's alright. You're safe, you're fine, everything's fine."

After a few moments she realized where she was, and who was talking. Alder was hunched above her, pinning her shoulders to the bed, keeping her from thrashing around. She looked at him, still gasping a bit. Then she stilled.

He watched her closely for a moment, then cautiously let her go. "Are you alright? It seemed as though you were having a nightmare."

Nightmare? That was putting it mildly. Finally Aria regained enough calm and breath to reply. "Er, yeah. I get night terrors. They're like nightmares, but a million times worse." She winced when she realized that she had really gone ape on this one. "Sorry about that."

He smiled at her, which she was surprised to find calmed her down a lot. He said, "Do not worry. There was no harm done – except, maybe, to yourself." His eyebrows creased with some worry as he eyed her side.

She frowned, then realized that part of her night terror had followed her into real life. Her side was hurting, and she tried to think back on how she might have sustained an injury. She recalled meeting Tarek, emerging from the mines with him; she remembered the meeting and Saint Dane with a chill. She had followed him into the woods, where—

A shiver passed through her as she remembered. He had cut her when she had jumped on his back.

Alder, seeing this, asked, "Are you alright? The wound was not too deep, and the medic said it should heal fully in a week or two, but it may be painful for a while." His voice was laced with concern.

Aria felt a pang of gratitude towards him, and smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. "It's not too bad. Don't worry. I'm fine."

Alder once again eyed the wound. "Well, your movement doesn't seem to have reopened it, though truth be told there wasn't much to reopen. The bleeding had all but stopped on its own by the time we got you here."

That reminded Aria of the rest of the circumstance that had led her to her predicament, and wanted to ask about Jani. However, Alder chose that moment to turn to the door and say, "Excuse me a moment. I will return shortly."

Aria closed her mouth and nodded. Alder left the room. She looked around, noting as she did that the light, now slightly orange, was slanting almost straight through the window. Sunset again.

The room was small and simple, but clean and comfortable. There was a bed stand next to her, and a little round table across from her. This was covered with what appeared to be bandages, small cups, a pestle and mortar, and some bloody rags. She cringed at the sight of the rags. Then she noticed movement in the doorway.

Jani entered the room, glaring moodily at Aria. She leaned against the doorway, and stood there silently. Aria simply watched her, wondering what the Milago intended to say or do. After another minute of silence, Jani shot a glance over her shoulder, scowled, and slouched out of the way. Alder came in, a tray of food in one hand and a cup in the other.

Aria's heart leaped, eyes darting to the food like a cat's to a hummingbird.

Alder watched Jani sternly, depositing the food tray containing a bowl of soup, a small loaf of bread, and another of the apple-like fruits, on the bed stand. He handed Aria the cup, which was full of water, and urged her to drink. "Thank you." Aria's throat was dry as the Mojave, and she began happily chugging until Alder cautioned her to take small sips. She grumbled a bit, but did as he asked.

When she was done with the water, Alder handed her the tray. Her stomach growled; she hadn't eaten since that afternoon, and she was starving. Again. She really hoped this wasn't going to become a normal thing. The same way she'd hoped the surprise footraces wouldn't become a normal thing.

She dug in.

Aria shivered in delight as she tore into the loaf of bread, barely taking any time to chew before swallowing. As she made her way quickly and voraciously through her meal, Jani's watched, torn between mild fascination and disgust. Alder merely shook his head, trying to not smile.

Once Aria demolished her dinner, a feat which had taken less than three minutes – impressive considering the amount – she sighed happily. It was amazing how much of an impact a good meal could have on one's mood. She closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the feeling of a full stomach.

Then she blinked them open again, and looked at Jani.

Jani glared some more.

Alder looked between the two of them, then spoke. "I will…leave you two to talk." He shot Jani a stern glance, clearly warning her against taking any sort of action against Aria, then he turned and disappeared through the door.

They sat in silence for some time, tension thick in the air. Aria doubted that Jani was about to thank her, but was at least fairly confident that she wasn't about to attack her, either. Jani's face was turning a bit red with the evident effort of restraining herself from an outburst. At last she spoke.

"So…who was that guy?" Her words were limited to a snarl. Better than a bellow, but still not as pleasant as a nice mellow hiss.

Aria figured she was referring to Saint Dane. She paused, debating on how much to tell her. She honestly wasn't sure what the protocol was for telling strangers about the whole Traveler thing. She didn't think her uncle would approve of her running around telling everyone about the true nature of the Travelers – not that she really knew what that was herself – but she had promised Jani an explanation, and she always kept her word.

Suddenly she felt a sharp pang of resentment towards her uncle, an anger than seemed to throb in time with her aching side. She hadn't asked to be dragged into this. And if he hadn't taken the time to explain the ins and outs, that was his problem, wasn't it?

She scowled a bit, then said, "His name is Saint Dane. He's a shape shifter who's here to topple this entire world into chaos."

Jani stared at her with a hard look on her face, and Aria couldn't tell if she was about to accuse her of lying, or accept what she had to say without objection. After a moment she realized Jani was waiting for her to continue. She thought about how best to do so.

She twitched her nose in irritation realizing that there wasn't much else she could really say about Saint Dane. She didn't know what his end-game was, she didn't know what he had done so far, she only knew one of his identities, and she didn't know what he was doing with it at the moment. She sighed in frustration, then kept going. "I guess his normal form is the one you saw earlier, but he can turn into anyone he wants, from what I've heard."

Jani interrupted. "What do you mean, 'from what you've heard'? Don't you know what's going on?" Her voice was tight with anger.

Aria's nose twitched again in irritation. No, I don't know what's going on, but I know a whole lot more than you!

Keeping this sentiment to herself, she continued, ignoring the interruption. "At the moment, he's taken on the role of Maal, which means he's in a position to do…a lot of damage." Filling Jani in was actually raising a lot of questions. She was starting to think about the situation as a whole. She frowned, considering. "I suppose his end game is to get the Milago and the Bedoowan to go to war with each other, but…"

She trailed off, not knowing how to continue. There were a lot of problems with her theory. She decided to see what Jani thought of her explanation so far.

As it was, Jani didn't seem it be taking it much better than Aria had at first. "But…Maal? He's a Milago. He's one of us! How can he be some…shape shifting monster? What do you mean he's trying to start a war? Why? And what do you have to do with it?" She whipped around towards Aria, teeth bared. "Why are you here? Who are you? If you know so much about him, why aren't you doing anything to stop this? Arrgh!"

She let out a frustrated screech and started pacing furiously around the room, head down and teeth clenched. Aria stared at her for a moment, feeling a sudden swoop of anger. She opened her mouth, getting ready to reply to the accusations in earnest, when she caught a glimpse of Jani's face. It took her a moment to process the expression on it, but when she had, the words died in her throat.

Jani was just as frightened as she was.

Aria closed her mouth, anger subsiding. They were both confused, afraid, and, as the events of that day had proven, hopelessly outmatched. The largest difference between them was that while Aria's biggest concern was getting home, Jani's problem was even worse.

She was home. This was her home.

And Saint Dane was trying to destroy it.

Aria sighed, letting her head droop, until Jani stopped pacing and calmed down enough to continue listening.

Aria tried to answer her questions as carefully as possible. "Like I said, my name is Aria. And I'm an outsider. But, honestly, you have no idea how much of an understatement that is."

At this Jani looked at her closely, eyes narrowing, clearly looking for a better explanation.

Aria took a deep breath and explained, to the best of her ability, about the flumes and her own territory. She took great pains not to let on how little she knew herself about the whole thing.

While she was talking, she suddenly realized what a relief it was to share all of this. She thought back to her uncle's insistence about the journals, and realized why it was so important to keep a record of what was happening to her. If she didn't get the chance to vent, she was pretty sure she would go crazy. She vaguely hoped that her journals had been safely delivered.

When she had finished, Jani was staring at her in openmouthed shock. Aria sat patiently, waiting for it to sink in. Finally, Jani seemed to come back to herself.

She called Aria something that she didn't think she would be recording in her journals.

Aria winced. She probably should have expected as much.

Nevertheless, she shrugged off both the profanity and the accompanying disbelief, and said, "Okay, well, you don't have to believe all of it. So long as you're up to snuff on the whole Saint Dane thing, I guess that's good enough. Besides, you're the one who asked. Why should I care whether or not you believe me?"

Jani opened her mouth to reply, then shut it again with a glare. Man, this girl was an Olympic-grade glarer.

"Well, I guess that's one thing we can agree on. I don't care about your stupid flumes or territories or anything. What I care about it the fact that that guy, Saint Dane, is here, right now, trying to…" She didn't seem able to convey the sentiment, 'destroy everything in my life that I've ever cared about and plunge my entire world into chaos'.

Aria nodded, and was about to continue talking when Alder walked in with Tarek.

The younger Traveler smiled when he saw Aria, but then shot a moody look at Jani. The glare he got back was more potent than his by an order of magnitude. He backed off and retuned his attention warily to Aria.

Alder, meanwhile, ignored Jani and addressed Aria directly. "I'm glad to see that you are doing better. I hope that you two have worked out your differences?"

Aria shrugged. "Yeah. I told her all about Saint Dane and the whole Traveler thing and stuff."

Tarek's mouth popped open and he stared at Aria in shock. Alder was similarly affected. "You told her what?"

Aria shrugged moodily, but now she was starting to think that she probably shouldn't have been so open with the information.

Alder clasped his forehead and began pacing around the now cramped room. Jani and Tarek pressed up against the wall to avoid being bowled over. After a minute of this Alder spoke again. "Aria, you cannot reveal to the people of the territories our reason for being here! It goes against everything we are working to achieve. Did Press not tell you this?"

Aria flushed with embarrassment. "Well, uhhh…not in as many words…I mean, he told me about keeping the territories separate, but he didn't actually say…"

Alder suddenly turned and looked intently into her eyes. Aria met them for only a moment before being forced to look down. She suddenly realized that, resentful or not, blabbing about their mission was a line she shouldn't have crossed.

After a few moments of silence, she spoke quietly. "It won't happen again."

Aria felt Alder's gaze pin her for a few more moments, then he relented. Aria glanced up to see him covering his eyes, head tilted up slightly towards the ceiling. Then he relaxed, and nodded. "Well, let us hope that this does not lead to too much damage. Now, we must–"

It was then that Jani, who had been steadily growing redder and redder in the corner, evidently furious about being talked about as though she wasn't there, exploded. "Oi! I'm right here, and I have a right to know what's going on! Besides, I'm not stupid!"

Tarek looked like he had something to say to that, but Aria shot him a glance. He kept his silence.

"You think you can feed me whatever story you want and I'll just go along with it? What makes you think you have any right to hide what's going on from me? This is my village! I live here, and I'm not gonna let an outsider and a couple of–" Aria suspected that she just barely managed to bite back an insult. "–Bedoowan just run around doing whatever they want while I sit around, clueless, and let that madman start a war in my home!"

Alder had watched her in surprise during the whole outburst. When she quieted down he looked at her thoughtfully, a hint of a frown on his face. Then after a brief silence he said, "You are right. It was presumptuous of me not to take your role in this into account. I apologize."

Jani continued furiously, "So don't think I'm just gonna–" She cut off as she realized that he was no longer trying to exclude her from the issue. She looked at him blankly for a moment, then said, "Oh. Uhhh…Right." She flushed again, though Aria suspected that this time it wasn't in anger. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again and slouched against the wall, arms folded, staring moodily at the floor.

Alder looked at her for a moment longer, smiling slightly, then he turned back to Aria. He shook his head. "Never mind. Whatever the effect of your…openness of information, we must focus on the task at hand." At this, his face took on a more serious look. "Let us discuss what we know so far."