They spent the next hour or so pooling their information. By the time night had fallen, Aria had learned from Alder that the night guard had been increased far beyond what the Milago even suspected. He also confirmed what Tarek had told her about Uncle Press' incarceration; he was being treated well, but he would not be released until things settled down. She, in turn, filled Alder in on what she had learned about Saint Dane and his identity as councilor Maal. Jani told them about following Saint Dane to the clearing, but she had lost sight of him a few minutes in. Neither she nor Aria knew what had become of Counselor Grail.

Alder's brows were creased with worry. "If Saint Dane is councilor Maal, then he is in the perfect position to escalate this conflict whenever he wishes to. After all, he is supposedly the balancing factor; it is his calm and logical demeanor which has kept the peace between Kore and Grail, and prevented the Milago uprising."

Aria nodded, but Tarek looked confused. "But if he has been in the position to start the tribes warring, why hasn't he acted yet? What is stopping him?"

Aria shook her head. She had been wondering the same thing.

Alder seemed to have a theory. "If he has not acted, then it is because he is waiting for something. We must remember: his goal is not simply the destruction of these two tribes. It is the destruction of the territory as a whole."

Tarek and Aria both frowned in concentration. She felt as if she had been handed a tricky question from a particularly demanding teacher.

With growing unease, Aria considered the implications. Something that Saint Dane was missing; something that could escalate the potential for destruction in both tribes; something that could result in damage on a global scale. An answer dawned on her, and she voiced it hesitantly.

"Tak?"

Jani, who had been brooding quietly in the corner, suddenly glanced up. Tarek looked doubtful, but Alder seemed approving of the idea. "Yes, that is what I was thinking. As far as I know, tak is unique to this region. No other tribe on Denduron would be able to stand up to it. If placed into the hands of either tribe, tak could potentially give that tribe the ability to not only wipe out their immediate enemy, but carry the war across the whole of Denduron."

They quieted down suddenly; they heard the sound of a horse cantering by outside, no doubt carrying a patrolling Bedoowan knight. They remained silent until the noise faded into the distance. When it was gone, Tarek spoke. "But wait. The tak mines were all destroyed. No efforts have been made to unearth them again. How can tak be what Saint Dane is waiting for? One would think that, if there had been any more near the surface, we would have found it in the last fifteen years? And surely if any new sources had been found, the war would already have begun?"

Alder shook his head. "I do not know. Tak is the only thing I know of that could enact the kind of change Saint Dane would require to topple the territory. As to how he intends to procure it, assuming that is his plan…that is beyond me."

Jani had, for a rather pleasant change, been quiet throughout most of the conversation. She had stood in the corner listening to them talk as the sunset died outside and the sparse light of the Tryptite took over, streaming faintly through the window. Tarek and Alder were so heavily concentrated on the conversation that they had been paying her little mind; Aria, however, noticed Jani shift slightly at the mention of the explosive mineral. She thought about calling her out, but decided against it. If Jani knew anything important, Aria felt confident that she would volunteer the information in time. Hopefully.

At any rate, Aria knew that Jani still didn't like either Alder or Tarek, and probably wouldn't be too keen on sharing anything with them.

She probably didn't like Aria either for that matter, but at least they had something in common. You didn't escape certain death at the hands of a shapeshifting demon without forming some sort of bond – albeit a grudging one.

Aria turned her attention back to the other two Travelers. Tarek had been tapping his foot anxiously, but now stopped and looked up at Alder expectantly. "So, what's the next move? What do we do now?"

Aria shifted uncomfortably in her bed, wincing as the pain in her side flared up. She was glad that she had been able to help as much as she had, and she didn't mind engaging in speculation; however, as far as she was concerned, she had done enough. More than enough, if her injury was any indication. She hardly thought that they had a right to assign her any more responsibility. Surely they could handle it from here, without her?

She turned her head and looked out the window, her heart sinking. How long would it be before she could get home and put all this behind her? She thought about her parents and hoped they wouldn't be too worried about her. Of course, Uncle Press had surely planned for her being gone. Aria was certain that he had taken the time to let her parents know that she was going to be out of town for a while. They trusted Uncle Press; they would assume he was taking care of her, even if – the wound in her side twinged painfully again – that trust wasn't necessarily well placed.

She also thought about her friends, Kar and Tommy. She couldn't help but imagine them in a situation similar to her own: sitting in a dark room, speculating about her absence and adventures. Normally she would guess that they were making up absurd stories and blowing things out of proportion, but in this case nothing they could come up with could possibly be stranger than the real story. She thought about all the hot summer evenings they had spent together, camping out in their backyards, telling stories and toasting over the fire anything they could get on a stick. Sometimes Kar would bring out her Dream Reader's Almanac and interpret their most recent dreams or nightmares. They would stamp out the fire, throw down their blankets under the open sky, and talk until they drifted off.

She wanted to go home.

She thought Alder must have noticed her change in mood. When he spoke again, he was mostly addressing Tarek. "I believe it would be a good idea to gather more information. I will go to the Bedoowan village tomorrow to look into freeing Press." Aria glanced up hopefully at this. "Tarek, I have a few small chores I will need you to take care of in my absence. We will reconvene tomorrow at the inn, at sunset." He smiled at Aria. "As for you, I think you have done enough for now. Stay here and rest; we will fill you in on what we learn tomorrow. And Jani; I know that you are eager to stop Saint Dane, but please remain here for now as well. We do not want him coming after you, which he may well do so if you draw too much attention to yourself. We will let you know when there is something you can do to help."

Aria was certain Jani would object to this order. She didn't seem like the type of person who would be content to lay low. However, to everyone's surprise, she just snorted and shrugged. "Fine."

Alder watched her closely for a moment longer. He seemed suspicious of her abnormally relaxed demeanor. Slowly, he turned away from her and said, "Very well. We should get some rest. First, however…"

He left the room for a moment before coming back with a large stack of paper and two inkwells. He divided the stationery between Tarek and Aria. They both let out groans of exasperation.

Alder smiled. "I know you are tired, but it is important to keep up your journals. Write for a while before bed." With that he turned and left the room.

Tarek rolled his eyes and said, "I don't understand what's so important about these journals. If we're not supposed to let others know about what we're doing, who's going to read them?"

Aria tapped one cheek with her forefinger, considering. "Before he left, my uncle asked me who I would most want knowing what had happened to me. He said that I would need someone to take care of my journals for me. I guess it's alright if we let our closest friends in on it."

Tarek frowned down at the papers. "I've been keeping up my journals since I first learned about being a Traveler, but I've always given them to Alder for safekeeping. I don't really have anyone that I like well enough to trust with this secret."

Aria looked up at Tarek, and felt a slight pang of sympathy for the other Traveler; she may have been all but a pariah at her school, but at least she had two friends whom she could trust implicitly. For all their differences, she, Kar, and Tommy had been inseparable. Even Jani had a couple of close friends – or at least, a couple of close toadies.

Tarek was looking down at his papers dejectedly. He was slumped over the desk, elbow on the table, propping his head up with his fist. He looked for all the world like a kid getting ready to write an essay on a topic that he really couldn't care less about.

He glanced up at her when he noticed her staring, and she chanced a small smile. "Well, worst comes to worst at least we'll know what happened to each other. That's better than nothing, right?"

He looked taken aback for a moment. Then he grinned, and shrugged easily. "Yeah, I suppose so. Let me know if you ever want to read any of my old journals. I don't have that many, though, and they aren't very interesting. I mean, I've never even left Denduron." Then he looked at her appraisingly and continued excitedly. "You, on the other hand…Three days a Traveler and you've already seen a flume, fought with quigs, and encountered Saint Dane – twice! What an adventure. I'm a bit jealous!"

Now it was her turn to crane herself over her papers.

She toyed with the quill in her hands, staring down at the blank sheets absently. She supposed it was easy for him to say, and she may even have felt similarly a few days ago. Now, however, she would gladly trade places with him. If he wanted an adventure, that was fine. She would be happy staying home, thank you very much. She dipped her quill and began labeling her latest journal.

Evidently Tarek must have realized that he had said something wrong. Perhaps it was her sudden change in mood. Or perhaps he realized that the person he had just professed jealousy towards was currently lying wounded in a hospital bed. His eyebrows shot up and he stammered, "Uhhh…I don't mean – I didn't mean I'm jealous of…er…" He was making floundering hand gestures in an attempt to convey exactly what he wasn't jealous of. She glanced up at him.

Jealous of what? Nearly being shot? Mauled by quigs? Of being gouged by a knife?

Although he had all the tact of a rusty thumbscrew, she found that she really wasn't upset with him. She looked up at him and shrugged. "It's fine. Don't worry about it. I mean, this whole adventure hasn't exactly been my cup of tea, but I'm sure to someone like you it must seem like paradise. You're obviously more suited to it than I am, anyways." She smiled at him, and he seemed to relax.

"I suppose. Although to be fair, hesitant though you may be, you've certainly taken to the Traveler lifestyle well! I don't know if I could have done any better in your position." He beamed at her, and she rolled her eyes and went back to writing.

Inwardly, she sighed. He really didn't seem to understand how much she resented her involvement in this. Hesitant was a bit of an understatement. So was reluctant. She thought adamantly opposed would be a better choice of words.

As the moon trekked its way steadily across the sky over the next hour or so, Aria got down on paper everything that had happened to her that day. Many times she had to shake herself back awake, and she and Tarek both yawned widely with increasing frequency. Tarek finished before she did; eyes drooping, he bade her goodnight, gathered up his loose-leaf journal, and slid out of the room. Aria kept plowing through, taking care to write neatly and legibly in spite of her exhaustion. She also took care to add as much spice to the story as she could, knowing that if the journals ever reached Kar and Tommy, they would take much more care in reading them if they read like a story, rather than a bland statement of facts.

If you could call anything that had happened to her "bland".

Finally, she finished her journal, labeled it, ordered the pages, and set them aside. She hoped she would get a chance to proof-read them before they were sent off. She was very critical about her writings. She stretched herself out, body crying out for rest. She blew out the candle, and settled herself down to sleep.

"Finally! I thought you would never finish that stupid thing."

She jerked, gasping. She whipped her head around to the corner of the room. Jani was still slumped against the wall; she hadn't moved since the meeting had ended.

"Holy crap, Jani! You scared the…" She broke off, realizing that Tarek and Alder would probably hear her if they were still awake. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I forgot you were there!"

Jani was staring at her as though she were a complete idiot. In response, Aria sat back up in bed, trying not to feel like one.

"Er, so, is there something you want to talk about? Because I'm really, really tired…"

Jani scowled and said, her voice barely above a whisper, "Yeah, I'm not exactly feeling too great myself. But this is important, so shut up."

Aria glared resentfully at her. The glare she got in return could have cowed a grizzly bear. She crossed her arms and shut her mouth.

"Good," Jani snarled quietly. "Okay, look. You know how you were talking about tak being what that Saint Dane guy needed, earlier?"

Aria nodded, her interest piqued, albeit muted from exhaustion. Her hunch was right – Jani had something important to say on the subject. But then, couldn't this have waited until morning?

Evidently not, because Jani continued. "Well, I don't know if it's a solid lead…" She trailed off, frowning. Aria groaned inwardly, but gestured encouragingly for Jani to continue. Anything to keep the conversation moving so she could get to sleep!

Jani just scowled at her again. "Look, I know some guys who have been spending a lot of time down in one of the old tak mines. I don't know what they're doing down there, but whatever it is, they don't want anyone knowing about it. They've kept it pretty quiet."

Aria's eyes, which had started to droop again, opened with renewed interest. "Really? How many people? How often do they meet? And how did you find out about it…?"

Jani's glare suddenly turned very dark. Aria tensed a bit. Jani whispered, her voice deadly low, "If you tell anyone about this, I'll bash your head in. But…" She took a deep breath. "One of the people creeping around the tunnels is my father."

Aria nodded, but inwardly considered why this was news worth braining her over. Then she realized: if these people were rooting around in the tak mines, it was at least possibly that they had unearthed some of the potentially disastrous mineral. If they had, that would likely make them a target, in one way or another, of Saint Dane. If Jani's father was one of those people…

Aria said quietly, "I see." After a few moments of silence, she continued. "So…you don't have any idea what they're doing?"

Jani let out a frustrated sigh. "No, I just told you, no!" It was amazing how much emphasis she could put into words that didn't rise above a whisper. In some ways, she may as well have been shouting. "I don't know anything about what they're doing except that there are several of them, my father is one of them, and they spend a lot of time down in the tak mines. Whatever they're doing, they've been doing it for nearly a year."

Aria tried to think about the possible implications, but despite the niggling feeling that this was very important, her exhaustion would not allow her to follow the chain of thought. Instead, she opted to get straight to the point. "Okay, I think we should let Alder know about this tomorrow. Then you guys can–"

She was cut off by a small sound of fury from Jani. "No way. I'm not doing anything with those Bedoowan jerks. If you want to follow up on this lead, you're gonna have to think of something else." She sat there glaring her challenge at Aria, who let out a low noise of desperate frustration. Finally, she spoke, low and a bit hoarse now from their enthusiastic whispering.

"Fine! Whatever. We'll follow up on it as soon as possible. We can worry about it tomorrow. Now can we please get some sleep?"

Jani merely slumped against the corner wall, her features thrown into sharp relief by the moonlight. Although her features were more apish in nature, her expression was that of a snarling dog. Still, after a moment, she relaxed. "Fine." Then she got a glint in her eye. "As soon as possible, right?"

Aria eyed her warily. "Sure. This might turn out to be important, so we should find a way to get to the bottom of it soon. I'm sure we'll figure something out…" She trailed off. Fatigue was making it difficult for her to continue the conversation lucidly. "Some way to get to the bottom of it while still…" She let out a long yawn. "…Still laying low."

Jani shrugged again, but Aria was already getting comfortable beneath the sheets. "'Kay. Talk to you tomorrow then." The Milago girl started walking towards the door. By the time she had made it out of the room, Aria was sound asleep.

In her dreams, a voice quietly prodded her, trying to persuade her into traveling down stone tunnels and rocky labyrinths; but even in her sleep her exhaustion prevailed. Aria sank deeper than the mines, into a darkness no dream could penetrate.

Far away, someone sighed.