"Something fun" did not pan out for Valor and Thea. Instead, the chesnaught found himself sitting in a chair in his room, watching Thea sleep. He nearly nodded off himself multiple times, and as the stars began to blink into existence in the night sky, he nodded off for longer and longer until the door to their room creaked open.

"Hm, asleep. Not tonight then," whispered a voice.

Valor stood up and lumbered over the door, yawning all the while. He caught it just before it snapped shut and looked down to see Karan and Candrila. "What's up?"

"Thought you'd fallen asleep. Heading out, needed to leave Candrila with someone for a short while," explained Karan.

"I'll watch her. Where're you headed?" asked Valor, tilting his head, now curious.

"A drink. Chartered boat to Mist, leaving tomorrow," said Karan. Her expression was flat, but Valor could hear it in her voice. The vaguest hints of excitement and even a little embarrassment.

She was never embarrassed about anything.

"You're leaving your daughter with us so you can go have a drink?" asked the chesnaught, raising an eyebrow.

Candrila put a claw to her mouth and said, "Shh. Isn't Thea asleep?" She peeked past Valor and squinted in the direction of the delphox. "You'll wake her up!"

The weavile did not seem to hear her. "Special occasion," said Karan, looking Valor in the eyes. "Otherwise, wouldn't bother."

"I mean…" Valor shrugged. "Alright sure, yeah." He stopped and felt almost silly. There wasn't much reason for Karan to lie to him about this. All things considered, she was pretty blunt about why she did things to him and to Thea and Stone. "But what's the occasion?"

"You two do a great job of remembering someone's asleep nearby," called Thea from the bed behind Valor. The delphox yawned and stretched, winced and whined as she stretched her leg too far and then added, "Thank you for remembering your manners, Candrila."

The sneasel nodded vigorously and smiled. "See! I told you to be quiet!"

Karan rolled her eyes but nodded nonetheless. "Fair. Was inconsiderate; my apologies."

"Ah, it's fine, I've been dozing. Besides, I'm curious too. What's the deal?" said Thea, flicking her wand at the braziers on the walls and filling the room with torchlight.

Karan tapped her chin for a moment, lost in thought, then looked at Valor and Thea in turn. "Will explain to Valor. He can explain to you. Have more to do after drink, will be brief."

Thea shooed Karan and Valor away. "Alright. Don't leave anything out Valor. Let's see if I don't have something worth reading in our bags, Candrila," said Thea, patting a spot on the bed next to her. The sneasel hurried over to the delphox and hopped up, watching as Thea telekinetically pulled the bag up onto the bed – and promptly sent the contents flying everywhere. "Fuck."

"Language," said Karan, her voice sharp.

"Sorry."

Valor stared at the drinks on the menu without really reading any of them. He'd been to the bar in Stalwart a single time for all of a few minutes and decided it wasn't his thing. Loud, crowded and smelly.

This bar, however, was probably the exact opposite.

The high tables, dimly lit interior and quiet procession of soft strings coming from an ariados in the corner made the entire place feel significantly more upscale. That and the polished wood surfaces everywhere and gleaming glasses in the immaculately constructed cupboards behind the bar proper.

He wasn't sure how the medicham that swapped the spindly barstool he was going to sit on with a much stouter one knew he was eyeing that stool before he'd even started walking to it, but he couldn't complain. Karan sat beside him, poring over the drinks on the menu and occasionally looking up to ask a question to the shuckle sitting on the bar itself across from her.

The conversations in this place were quiet. Sometimes they were quieter than the odd ringing in his ears. But something stuck out to him more than anything else.

Yes, it was dimly lit in here. But more than that, it was dimly lit by lights he couldn't see. Torches? Glowing stones of some kind? A live light source? Everything was tinted red and purple, so maybe it was some kind of special glowing stone.

It made his eyes heavy, so he focused on the conversation Karan was having with the shuckle.

"If you ask me, I'd say step out of the comfort zone and try something new," said the bartender, looking Karan up and down with professional interest. "How about something that'll shatter ya?"

The weavile drummed her overlong claws on the bar and shrugged. "Continue."

"Triple liechi base with an overripe petaya infusion, run for double the usual time," explained the shuckle, pulling up a glittering glass and a large bottle from under the bar as he spoke. "The base guarantees a blanket of tongue-scorching spiciness that's mellowed by the sweet overtones as long as you're drinking it."

Karan raised an eyebrow.

"The overripe petaya is a bit of a secret so don't go stealing it," continued the shuckle, winking. "It loses the potency of the spiciness it would normally have, and instead, all the bitterness in it concentrates and eventually doubles. Does something special to the sweetness."

The weavile leaned forward and watched as the bartender began pouring her drink, obviously interested. Valor smirked.

"The result is magic." He pushed the glass towards Karan and smiled. "Trust me."

The weavile gestured at Valor and the bartender immediately poured him a glass as well. "Don't shrivel up now," he joked, sliding the glass to Valor with a wink.

Karan held her glass aloft towards Valor and said simply, "Clink."

Valor obliged her and clinked his glass against hers, somewhat lost, then took a sip of his drink as soon as Karan did.

It was the most bitter thing he'd ever tasted in his life. Swallowing it was painful, and the second he did it felt like his entire mouth was burning from the inside out. His eyes watered and in his desperation, he took another sip.

It was, if possible, even more bitter, and followed up by an escalation in the inferno raging in his mouth. He looked around, his eyes wide and wild, first at Karan and then at the bartender. The weavile sipped from her glass, her expression unreadable. The shuckle simply looked excited.

"I'm- ah, this-" sputtered Valor, looking down at the glass and then at the shuckle. He couldn't stand the feeling in his mouth and instead simply downed the rest of the glass. The brief respite the feeling of the liquid washing past his tongue vanished as once more, his entire mouth revolted at what he'd put into it.

Karan set her glass down and looked over at Valor, smiling. "Well?"

"Ah- uh-"

The weavile interrupted him, smacking her lips and positively beaming, then whispered, "That finish." She looked down at her glass with a very rare fondness.

"What fini-" began Valor, refusing to believe that Karan had not only been unaffected, but positively enjoyed poisoning herself. But then it hit him. A sensational, all-encompassing sweetness worked its way out from seemingly nowhere. It burst out in patches all across his mouth until every last inch of it was coated in a sublime sweetness that danced at the very edge of perfection and too much.

He stared down in disbelief at his glass and finally said, "Oh."

"Every bit what you hoped it'd be?" asked the shuckle, looking at him expectantly.

"He didn't hope for anything," said Karan, smirking. "I did." She pushed her glass politely towards the shuckle and gestured at it. "Excellent."

"Love to hear it," he said, smiling widely as he poured her another glass of the liquor before shuffling down the bar towards a patron that had just walked up.

"You're gonna have seconds of that?" asked Valor, his eyes wide. "I think I'd need a month to recover from just this one."

Karan took another sip and smiled. "It's thrilling."

"Not the word I'd use, but I'm glad you like it," said Valor, smiling. He began fiddling with his empty glass for lack of anything else to do with his hands. "So… tomorrow we're heading out?"

The weavile took another sip and studied him carefully for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. Stone and Magnus are returning to Stalwart."

Valor nearly tipped his glass off the bar. "Wait, wait, wait… What? Why?"

"Need them to guide Jace."

"Magnus can do that on his-"

"Yes. But Stone should be there." Karan set her glass down, her expression now serious.

The delicate sounds of the strings in the corner faded as the ariados took a break. Valor watched the spider get up and sit down at a large, low table as a drink was placed before her. "What for?"

"A balance," said Karan, now staring into her drink. "Stone worries about human influence."

"She never does anything to-"

"Magnus."

Valor frowned. "Right. I didn't know you cared." He spun his glass in place, watching the dim lights reflect off of it. He scratched his cheek and added, "Do you?"

"Stone does. Enough for me." Karan finished her drink and sat back in her chair, her eyes jumping from her empty glass to the cabinet of bottles before her. "Never one for caring much about human influence." She waved the thought aside like a bothersome cutiefly. "Lived for years surrounded by them. Steeped in them. Changed me. Perhaps forever."

"You were always a little odd. But that doesn't matter; to you it just…makes no difference? All the same as far as you can see?" asked Valor.

She shrugged again. "Human influence spreads. Told her to stop it when necessary and allow it when applicable." The weavile smiled and sat up straighter. "Wish I could see it. Very amusing."

"Sounds like Magnus will be lucky to repaint a single house," said Valor, chuckling. "Stone's going to chain him to something, I bet."

The weavile cocked her head and let out a low hum. "Hard to say. Stone is stubborn, not stupid." She reached out and placed a paw on Valor's arm, looking him in the eyes. "How's Thea?"

Valor fought down a grimace but didn't quite win. "She's… recovering."

Karan's eyes narrowed an almost imperceptible amount. "Doubt you're hiding anything bad." She let out a long, low exhale. "If it becomes it, you tell me."

"I'm still figuring it out, that's all," explained Valor, leaning onto the bar. "I'll let you know the full story as soon as I can. She's just down is all, but… well, like I said. When I figure it out." He didn't see much reason to explain that restless night after she'd been hurt. Or anything about how he reacted to a slightly longer than average space between breaths.

No, he was just worried. Worried, tired and trying to keep watch. His eyes felt heavy all at once. With great difficulty, he kept them wide open. "What time is it?"

Karan raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Do you see a watch?" she asked, holding her arms out and gesturing down to her body.

The chesnaught rolled his eyes. "Guess not, but we should be heading back anyway."

"Mmm." But Karan did not move. She rocked her glass back and forth with a long claw and said, "Strange outburst from Thea." She shot a sidelong glance at Valor and then focused on the glass once more. "Am willing to help. Unsure how."

"That makes two of us, Karan. As soon as something comes to mind…" Valor put his head into his hands and groaned. "Maybe a change of scenery will do her good."

"Perhaps." A short pause. "Valor?"

The chesanught looked over at her and nodded. "Yeah?'

"How are you?" asked Karan. Her eyes bored straight through him. He felt like a chespin again.

But he wasn't. He knew how to lie now. "Doing fine." He offered her a grin. "Just tired."

"You're dying sooner than you should." The statement could have been a threat, but the gentle frown in Karan's lips, her sad eyes and the slouch in her shoulders made it clear it wasn't. "I'm sorry."

Valor stared back at her, confused. He tilted his head and said, "What?"

"I forced you to evolve back in Crag, in that fight we had…" Her eyes went from his missing spike to his face, and down to his enormous arms. "You're tough. Strong." Then, her eyes shifted to the streaks of yellow along his left arm. "Burning bright."

The chesnaught looked down at his arm and then back at Karan. Every single time they'd apologized to him replayed in his head. All they'd taken from him - it was more than just the happy times. It was the time itself. He hunched forward over his empty glass and let out a deep, slow sigh. "What do I say to that, Karan?"

"Whatever you want. It's your time we took." Her pitying stare, uncharacteristic for someone who spent so long looking severe, bit into Valor.

"I-" He stopped himself and shook his head. "I have to think."

"Take your time." She paused and added, "Really take it."

Thea turned the page of her book, pausing her narration long enough to take a sip from a cup on the nightstand beside her bed. "Enjoying the book, Candrila?" she asked, looking down at the stop of the sneasel's head.

It wasn't exactly a thrilling book – a basic omnibus of primers on the different continents of the world. The entry on Mist was dour. It was usually cold, usually raining, and covered in mountains. Sure, the winters in Grass could dip towards bitter at times, even with how tropical other places on the landmass could get, but the weather patterns in Mist sounded like they were equal parts predictable and abysmal.

"So this is where we're going? Mom didn't say anything about… about…" She trailed off, tapping her unnaturally long claws on the corner of the page.

"How shit it is?" supplied Thea, finishing her thought.

"Yeah! It sounds like ass!"

"Language," giggled Thea, flicking the feather growing from behind her ear.

The sneasel laughed. "Mom always gets so mad if I swear. How come?"

"I don't know, I've never asked. She doesn't tell your Auntie Stone to stop swearing," said Thea, shrugging. "I guess she doesn't want to see you have the same foul mouth."

"She tells Auntie Stone to stop swearing all the time," explained Candrila, her voice serious. "She just never listens to her." A smile spread across her face.

"Sounds like Stone," said Thea, nodding. "I don't care though, say whatever, just make sure Karan doesn't hear it."

"Are you excited about going to Mist too?"

Thea sat back against her pillow and frowned. A low hum rose in her throat as she mulled the question over, filling the silence of the room until at last she said, "I guess? I've never been off the continent before. It might be interesting. It might be boring. It'll probably be dreadful weather. Just don't wanna get fucking soaked, you know?"

Candrila nodded, then her eyes widened and she cooed, "Wait, what if there's snow?" She stood up, wriggling with excitement. "I love the snow, it always goes away too fast."

The delphox shook her head. "I don't think there'll be snow. Bit too early in the year for that."

"Aw…" Candrila's shoulders slumped as she visibly deflated. "Well, what else is there to do in Mist?"

"Not sure. Maybe the primer will tell us more." Thea patted the space next to her and Candrila obliged her, sitting down and looking at the book once more.

After a few silent minutes of reading, they'd reached the end of the section on Mist. Thea frowned at the book in her hands and shook her head. "That didn't tell me a gods damned thing… Sorry, Candrila. I guess we'll have to experience the place if we want to know more about it."

"Why are we going there, anyway? There's other places too, right?" asked the sneasel.

"The sister guild is in Paradise, so it makes the most sense," explained Thea.

"What about other places? Isn't Water on the way to Mist?"

"Not a sister guild. There's one in Sand too, but…" Thea drifted off and flipped the book to the section on the Sand continent. "Maybe if they say no, we can go there."

"Have you been there before?" asked Candrila.

The delphox replied in a hollow voice, her thoughts turning to her training and tutelage under the delphox that had come from Sand, "No. I had a teacher from there once…" Thea slid the book onto Candrila's lap and said quietly, "Here, keep reading. I'm going to rest my eyes a bit."

She laid back against her pillows and shut the room out. That delphox was named Fourth-Dance-Upon-Ten-Thousand-Shards-Of-Glass. A name that was earned as much as it was given, designed to reflect the fire in the soul of the bearer.

But Thea? She was just Thea. That's what Vanguard called her.

It was a few hours before noon. Maybe? The sun shone down on Thea's head and warmed her ears, even the parts covered in bandages. Her leg hurt a bit less today but only just. She would hopefully recover enough to not feel like walking was a chore by the time they made it to Mist. And if she didn't…

Well, at least Valor didn't mind carrying her. She looked over at the chesnaught and then dropped her gaze to the ground. The bastard was too helpful. She turned her thoughts to the little meeting she'd just had with the others.

Splitting up. She was surprised she wasn't being sent off too.

But Thea had nothing to say to Karan's explanation of why Stone was heading off with Magnus. She didn't have much of an opinion of it. Maybe she felt a bit sorry for Stone. Missing out on an adventure like this was probably killing her inside.

But Stone bid them good-bye in decent enough spirits. A bit tired. A bit grumpy. But the hug she gave Karan didn't tell her they were upset with each other. A hollow feeling in her stomach shifted in position and settled once more.

She looked at the gangway that led to their chartered ship and watched as a gardevoir with tired eyes puffed on a pipe and secured various crates of cargo and back up sails to the ship's deck and central mast, respectively. The vibrant pinks and purples that surrounded the ropes and traps flickered in and out of existence with incredible speed. He would pause now and again to turn and bark orders at a barbaracle, who hurried from one crate to another, double checking the lines and lashings.

They'd been ordered to wait until Captain Oleander gave them approval to board. It had been nearly half an hour, and still they were standing on a dock, staring at a small ship. Thea frowned and looked around. Ships came in and out of Treasure Town's port at a decent rate. They'd been standing on this dock the longest, and it was beginning to attract stares.

She scowled and called out, "Are we going to board soon or…?"

The gardevoir groaned and stomped down the gangway towards her and the others. "Ye want all this cargo to go flyin' the fuck offa the ship? These are our provisions. If starvin' is good enough for-"

"Fine, fine, sorry, sorry," said Thea, raising her paws in defeat. "We've just been waiting here for a while, that's all."

"The godsforsaken engine is late!" shouted Captain Oleander, stomping a heavily scarred and spindly leg ineffectively on the dock. "It's the same fuckin' thing every time with this sorry bastard. I'd split his gears apart and toss 'em into the drink out in the glass if he wasn't so damned useful." The gardevoir puffed on their pipe again, filling the air with an acrid, pungent odor and exhaled a thick plume of purple and green smoke. He pulled his patched, lopsided hat off his head, beat it once and then fixed it in place once again.

"I'm late, sorry, I'm late!" shouted a tinny voice. Thea turned in time to see a klinklang hovering towards them, bouncing off pokemon as they walked up and down the docks and hardly stopping to apologize.

"Crank, you were due onboard over an hour ago! What the fuck is happening wherever you keep your brain?" shouted the captain. "No, no, don't you fuckin' start explainin' yourself to me. Excuses, the lot of 'em. Get on the ship!"

The klinklang floated past them all, apologizing nonstop all the while and disappeared into the hold. They hardly stopped to even say "hello" to Thea and the others, let alone their crewmate.

Oleander dug his forehead into his overlarge palm and sighed. "If the bastard wasn't so useful I'd have chucked him for a hopeful klang and tried my luck."

"Captain, everything is secure," shouted the barbaracle from the deck. She sounded one step removed from nervous and terrified.

"Right, thank you Hannah," shouted Oleander without looking back. He puffed on his pipe and studied Thea and her friends. "Sorry for the outburst. Hate runnin' behind schedule. As do you, I'm sure."

Karan nodded and gestured to the gangway, her eyebrow raised.

"Right. Yes, head on up. Rooms are in the hold, marked with numbers. The Glassglider welcomes you." He gestured up the ramp and continued to puff on his pipe.

Thea followed everyone else up to avoid having to slow them down with her injured leg and had barely stepped onto the deck when Oleander brushed past her. He stomped his foot on the deck and shouted, "Get yer fuckin' gears movin', Crank!"

Thea's eyes swept across the deck. Valor leaned over a railing, staring down at the water, looking unsure. Candrila sat on her mother's shoulders, pointing gleefully at everything she could. Karan looked almost serene. As close as she could get to that anyway.

The delphox shuffled to the bow of the ship and leaned against the railing to stare out at the water that lay ahead of them. Ships sailed by, some so lazily she'd have thought them to be adrift if they didn't begin to pick up speed for a few moments and turn before they slowed down again.

Valor joined her at her side and said quietly, "Didn't expect the captain to be like this."

"Didn't expect any of this to really be like this," mumbled Thea, her eyes now watching an enormous ship weigh anchor. Its huge sails fluttered in the gentle breeze. She glanced over shoulder at the sail tied down to their mast and then faced forward again. "Hopefully these things are worth it."

"Magnus swore by these. I think this very same crew, even," said Valor, looking up and watching a pelipper dart from ship to ship, bearing a courier's sack.

"Wonder why…" mumbled Thea.

The ship lurched forward and Thea steadied herself on the railing. They were off. The ship began to pick up speed, and compared to some of the ships she'd been watching, they might as well have been sprinting.

The sound of the water beneath them picked up. The sun reflected off the waves. The smell of the sea was stronger. The salty air washed over her and through her fur. And then it occurred to her to turn around.

Someone had swiped a chunk of time out from under her and she had no idea when or how. Thea frowned and looked up at the sun. It had drifted across the sky while she wasn't looking. Just a bit. Probably.

The sound of the water was louder now. Magnus was right: the speedsters were fast. Treasure Town was already shrinking away in the distance.