Daine knew nothing of the torment in the outer world. All she knew was the agony and terror that consumed her every waking minute. For a change of pace a terror about Stormwings changed to a calm, serene forest. She waited for some horror to play out before her- perhaps some form of torture, like feeling her entire body turn to stone, or poison make her blood fire. Or maybe her friends out die because she hadn't stopped the centaurs and unicorns, or Stormwings had come and eaten them alive. No, worse, every person she knew was eaten by a giant creature right in front of her because they each cared for her.

But the tranquility of the glade stayed and out came the waddling figure with black and white fur and long, nasty claws. The animal-god stopped and rose to its hind legs to stalk towards her menacingly. "You silly cub! I could sink my teeth into you right now! Do you know what you've done? Why you're here?" The badger god's voice rose to a level that hurt Daine's ears, just like the griffin's. She flinched and he lowered his voice- but only slightly. "Daine, you are here because your body is dying. Just like when you tried to hear the dolphins. Yes, I know about that," he muttered when she looked shocked. "And let me tell you, your da was not happy with me." He shuffled around, looking agitated for all his furry features.

"And now, now, how am I supposed to tell him why you're here? Because you thought you could reason with the unreasonable!" The words Numair had used came back and stung. She should've listened to him! How was everyone reacting? Would they miss her? But she didn't have much time to dwell on these thoughts as Badger kept ranting. "-so I have to tell him. Or, wait, nonono. Hmm, it would be difficult, but…" his eyes took on a crafty look. "Daine, I have figured out how to keep you alive. Now, I have no idea whether this will work, they're very difficult to find. We'll have to have some serious help from others here, but as the Dark God hasn't claimed you and the Greater Gods haven't deemed to notice your presence, you don't belong here." Daine didn't understand. "Daine, we're going to get help. We're going to need your wild magic, but we're going to find the one and only cure to the poison of the Unicorn Fever."

"Really?" For the first time she paid full attention and her face lit up.

"Yes, really. Do you know what can heal anything?" She shook her head. "The tear of a phoenix."

Her heart plummeted. She'd been told enough stories by Grandda to know that the phoenix was a very shy bird, not coming out unless it was truly, truly needed. Unless the heart of the caller was pure. Would it work?

As if hearing her thoughts, Badger's muscles bunched up without her noticing and the next thing she knew she was underneath a massive weight of angry badger god. One who's breath made her wish for death. "Now stop. I know that look, missy. You'll not foul all my work because of one stupid mistake. Now come," he ordered, getting off her so that she could finally breathe. "We'll go to Nesting Point and settle this right out." Without any further explanation a silver mist enveloped them and she had to throw herself backwards to keep from teetering off the edge of the cliff. "Damn, I always misjudge that," the beast god muttered. Daine dared to turn and glower at him. He shrugged it off and turned to look at the sky spread out before them.

Daine was suddenly very glad she was on solid ground; the fall was a very, very long one indeed. She felt like she could see everything here. Birds-thousands, millions of them- weaved in a complicated, intricate knot that seemed mesmerizing and beautiful. "Holy Goddess," she whispered.

Badger grunted. "Yes, but finding a phoenix in all of that will not be easy. It's bad enough that you couldn't avoid getting maimed, you had to do it on a day that all of the Great Birds did their dance. Hrumph," he scowled. "Silly twitter beasts. Well, go on," he said abruptly, looking to her expectantly. "Call it."

"But I don't know how," Daine whispered, looking back out at all of the immortal bird creatures.

"Same way you did the centaurs. Just… reach." The god motioned with his paws flicking forward, pads down, as if to say 'hurry up.'

With a deep breath, Daine gathered her magic close and realized that here her magic wasn't a deep well; it was an ocean, endless, vast and magnificent. She had to sit down, lest she fall, and reach with just a few magical fingers, rather than a strong grip. Immediately a net more than capable of spanning the swarms of birds flew from her to settle gently over them. 'Excuse me,' she called. The voices that had stayed in the back of her mind came to the forefront, threatening to drown her or drive her mad. 'Shh, gently. I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for a phoenix. It's very important.' Daine felt like a fool, trying to summon a creature that only came to the most worthy. She turned back to Badger after a moment. "I don't think it will work. My Grandda said that a phoenix will only- " she stopped at his look. Whirling around, she beheld a sight that was… she couldn't describe it.

The bird was enormous, easily ten feet tall. The wings that settled around its body had to be at least twice that, maybe even quadruple. But it was the feathers that caught the eye and held it. Each individual feather glowed, like its own mini sun, radiant in oranges and yellows and the occasional red, white and bronze. She even got hints of blue near the joints. The talons and bones inside the sun-feathers were silver, but the eyes were like molten mercury with the moon mixed in. The silver-white swirled every shade of grey and white over and over, a dizzying sight to behold.

Daine strengthened her resolve and bowed deeply before the magnificent bird. 'I'm really terribly sorry to disturb you, and I know that I may not deserve it, but… please, I need a tear.' Immediately she regretted blundering her words so much, knowing she must sound like a bumbling village girl. 'My friends-defenders of Tortall- and I were trying to make peace with a herd of centaurs and flesh-eating unicorns, but something went wrong. I think… I think one of the unicorns injured me with its horn, and now I can't get home. Please, do you think you could help me? I just want to go home.' She looked up then, wanting to at least see it when it surely would dismiss her.

'Child,' said a powerful, soothing voice. 'You have come a long way. You doubt much about yourself, but I can see inside of you. Veralidaine Sarrasri, you are wild mage and woman-child, friend and protector. You are pure of heart.' The voice was female, and Daine felt as though she were being wrapped up in a hug that was like the ones her ma used to give her. The feeling brought tears to her own eyes as she looked up those of the phoenix's. 'You are granted a tear.' Daine watched in awe as a drop of glistening blue/grey/white/silver beaded in the bird's eye and fell onto Daine's head, where it washed over her face and eased some ache she hadn't realized she carried. 'Go home, child.'

Badger rose up and waddled over to the motionless, speechless girl. "Well, that went exceptionally well. The last person that came here was said to have been ripped to pieces and burnt to a crisp!"