Chat Noir held onto Ladybug's hand a little tighter. The unnerving threat that loomed within the discovered miraculous box, was wrapped up hastily in the ridiculous dabbing kitten t-shirt. It had sunk to the bottom of the bag, and they didn't discuss it further as they cross the threshold of the final stop in the peace trials of Canada.
Chat Noir hoped beyond hope that maybe the wild kwami might have answers.
There were a bit surprised to find themselves standing on a boardwalk crisscrossing through a dense forest.
"I thought we were headed to the coast!" Ladybug paused, brushing aside a branch.
"We are," Ember said leading them around the bend.
Down below the gradual steps the sand stretched out with arching rock rising up like mammoths suspended on eroded platforms of stone. The ocean spaned out beyond.
"The Bay of Fundy!" Ember introduced them to the cove.
They stepped from the wooden plank stairs onto the smooth stretches of sand with the occasional tidal pool or scattered leaves of glossy kelp. Their feet sunk into the soft dark sand, trailing them with impressions of their footprints side by side.
A fresh breeze played with their hair, and they wandered among the stone sentinels that had hunkered down for a rest. Ladybug perched herself up on one of the eroded rocks looking out at the waves beyond. Chat Noir paused next to her and asked"Mi'Lady?"
"Jump up here with me Kitty," Ladybug's smile sparkled like the rims of the sea. "I just feel like taking a moment here. I don't want to let it slip away just yet."
Chat Noir leapt up next to her, slipping his arm around her, as she leaned against him. They silently watched the tide as it slowly traced its way back to their shore. One lapping wave at a time the ocean returned erasing their footprints. The water circled around raised mounds creating little islands, until even they were swallowed up.
Ember silently perched on the Hopewell Rocks beside them with his fire gently radiating outward. The wild kwami of the peace trials arrived so quietly that they were not sure which direction they had come from. The Raven, Beaver, Orca, Porcupine, Moose, Bison, Whooping Crane, Pronghorn, Rattlesnake, Polar Bear, and last a Puffin kwami, gradually assembled.
"All have arrived. You have proven your ability as peacemaker as mediator between others, and you have sought peace within yourselves," the Puffin spoke first.
"Peace is precious and far too rare," the Whooping Crane nodded her long neck in agreement.
"It is not only the tide of Fundy that has turned," the orca cautioned. "There are those threatening to throw off the balance we have maintained so long."
"We need you weilders to be on your guard more then ever," the moose instructed. "Those who wish for destruction and division do not always reveal themselves right away."
"The wild kwami of peace are with you!" the shy porcupine managed to exclaim.
"Thank you all for your guidance and support," smiled Ladybug graciously. "I hope that we can put an end to the abuse of Nooroo, before more discord is fostered between the kwami."
"My friends," Chat Noir stood to address the council. "We have also discovered a long lost miraculous box from the second generation. The kwami of forgetfulness has been found. I...we wondered if there might...might be some way to revive memories of those her magic touches."
The kwami council glanced at each other gravely. There was some rumbled muttering between them, before the raven spoke. "That kwami has a match, a mate, just as the black cat has his ladybug. He is her opposite, and her other half. Rappel is the kwami of restoration. If you find him, he is the only one to restore what her magic banishes."
"Rappel has been lost for countless cycles!" the pronghorn sighed, shaking its head.
"Well we had thought she had vanished forever too!" the bison pointed out.
"We hoped she had," muttered the puffin.
"She guards the miraculous, just as each of us have. Her discover may end up being a blessing," the Whooping Crane scolded. "At least she didn't fall into the hands of the enemy."
The puffin shrugged his sturdy shoulders, and shook his thick beak unconvinced.
"But this Rappel! Any chance you know where we could start looking?" Chat Noir pursued. "What kind of kwami is he anyway?"
"Rappel! Why he is a dolphin kwami of course!" the orca snorted as if it should be obvious. "But the great blue is a wide place to track down a single jewel...one drop in the ocean!"
"And the kwami of forgetfulness, that is linked to the white jewel...what kind of kwami is she?" Ladybug asked.
There were uncomfortable shifting among the kwami and awkward glances between them before Ember finally answered. "It is the nature of her power. No one remembers. Anyone who comes into contact with her forgets...even her weilder...even fellow kwami. Only Rappel knows."
"Don't give up hope!" the Polar Bear encouraged. "We will all put the word out. Surely with the wild kwami of the world coming together we will find the lost jewel of Rappel."
"Thank you," Chat Noir bowed in gratitudes, followed by the nods and grunts of agreement among the kwami.
"Now for the stones," the Puffin moved on. "Toss them into the tide below" (for by now the water had been rising around them, and lapped at their feet).
Ladybug and Chat Noir did as instructed. The stones tossed in the waves, and were struck against the rocks of Hopewell, polishing them against each other. A power split through the water back to the weilders as if their minds were cleansed from within of clutter and agitation. They each breathed in deeply, and when they released their breath the kwami smiled.
"Carry peace you carry with you," the Raven croaked, with a nod of his head. "We will be here when you need us weilders."
As the kwami disappeared into the forest, Ladybug summoned Kaalki, and she, Ember, and Chat Noir returned to Paris with a renewed sense of determination.
They didn't yet realize how close to home the danger that festered had become. The acquired miraculous box they returned with (and the curse within) would not be dormant for much longer.