Mira had taken an unusually deep breath of the sterile air that had flooded from open doors. The twoleg nest before her had been shorter than the tops of the beech trees surrounding it. Unlike other twoleg structures in the forest, it had been painted all black and had no seams or markings, absorbing all the hazel daylight that touched it. It had seemed to want to intimidate, but Mira had just stared at it with kit-like wonder. The featureless dome had been so fresh compared to the other nest she had encountered. She had padded through the doors and into a lobby made entirely of seamless, reflective crystal.

"This certainly looks new." Mira rubbed the scratches on her chin and chest that hadn't quite healed.

"This is one of the most secure command centers I have seen yet." Proxima's voice echoed through hidden chatter holes in the structure. A blue line appeared on the ground, beckoning her forward. "That means its security systems my still be active. Proceed with caution."

"It's nice being out of the forests every once in a while, but why did the twolegs have to make these places so weird?"

"Weird?"

"Yeah, weird. It looks like a giant black pebble in the middle of a beech forest. You told me the twolegs did it on purpose to confuse trespassers, but this?"

"The walls being mirrors is strange, even by their standards. That is why I want you to proceed with—"

"Oh, and it's so chilly. Why?" Mira playfully shook her fur, flinging dirt and leafy bits everywhere.

"Where are all these questions coming from?"

"Hm, no reason. I'm just happy."

"You are just, happy?"

"Yeah!" Mira bounced down the path marked by her guardian, doors parting wherever she went. "Happy. Really happy."

"You have not spoken in such a manner since we were in the Alicorn District. Maybe you would have been better off if you had slept properly last night, instead of with that tomcat."

Mira rounded a corner marked in blue lines and down a set of stairs. The ceiling and floor traded their reflective coatings for diffused light that illuminated the space between Mira's ragged fur. She wasn't even slightly embarrassed she hadn't groomed herself that morning, instead remembering her goodbye with Farstrider and the promise they made to see each other again. "Probably not."

"This… thing you have with this tomcat, how do you intend to sustain it when you spend so much time apart? You only met him a month ago."

"I first met him when we were in the Ninki Nanka District. That was so many rotations ago—It feels so strange we were on the opposite sides of a battleground, then. As for the distance, we each have our own goals, you know? We're still figuring that out. But we'll see each other a rotation from now. I can't wait!"

"So that is what you think this is."

Mira continued bouncing down the hall, taking turns and marching up and down stairs wherever the dotted blue line was. The halls opened the deeper she went into the maze-like nest. They went from accommodating just a few twolegs to wide enough for one of their monsters. But everything stayed so bland and featureless. With nothing but her own reflection and the way ahead to look at, she thought on Proxima's words more than she otherwise would've.

"You don't see it working out, do you?" Mira asked with playful innocence.

"Frankly, no. I believe you are two different cats on two different paths."

"On the contrary, we're more alike than you know. In many, many ways." Mira turned another corner to a long straightaway she couldn't see the end to. Her stumpy tail wagged, for once happy with the featurelessness of it all. "For example, we both like to hunt."

"Except he has been hunting his whole life—"

"Aww, see? You do know something about him—"

"You fail at it about half the times you try. You did not catch whatever it was you were hunting last night."

"I caught what I really wanted last night," Mira smirked, looking for a red dot to narrow her eyes at. She pictured the stunned look on Proxima's face—if she could make such a face—and held her head high. After a few moments walking down the hall, another thought about the tom who had smitten her arose. "Oh, we're both also fast."

"You are larger than him," Proxima said with a hint of exhaustion. "You are certainly stronger and faster than him, too."

"I never really told you how exactly we met. Again, that is. It was on that hiking trail, but did you know we fought, too?"

"You had an argument with a tomcat you barely knew?"

"Oh no, an actual fight. I attacked him because I thought he was going to attack me. Then he ran off pretty quick. But I was faster." The senior molly flexed her legs and bounded down the hall, chasing an imaginary cat only she could see.

"I told you to be careful," Proxima said. "These halls mess with the farsighted."

Her warnings were lost as Mira imagined running through the brambles she had chased Farstrider through. She picked up more speed for every happy moment she was lost in thought. The hall's never-ending expanse only encouraged it. She remembered chasing him through gentle flowers and thick bushes, not knowing for how long or exactly what. The scents of actual soil and actual plants seemed so real that they weren't part of the memory. But she was glad to have caught him. She was glad he had followed her.

Mira knew the double doors ahead would part for her, so she didn't slow. She bounced off the wall and dove through the door to ambush her imaginary target from above. Instead, she nearly dove off a cliff. She slammed her claws in to the shattered floor, stopping just short of falling in, and scrambled away from the mysterious hole. The huge den was now a mess of exposed wires and broken walls, much of it already consumed by a sinkhole. She could even see where several hallways were exposed to it. Mira looked over the edge and found no end to it.

"This is why I told you to be careful." Proxima's voice was staticky over the exposed chatter holes in the den. "Unfortunately, this was where the control center was. We will not be able to move Skhul Terra from this place."

"I guess that explains why I suddenly smelled the outside. What could've caused this?" Mira said, snapping back to reality.

"The failure of an underground reservoir is likely. Perhaps a strange security contingency, the remnants of a gravity lapse? Either way, our incursion here is a failure. Return to the entrance. And do not run off in these places again. That tomcat has been nothing but a distraction."

Mira had not let Proxima's disinterested tone take away her memory, though. Even though it had briefly turned into a fantasy, she had retained her giddy euphoria all the same. She had even giggled when she realized she had pulled something out of sorts running too hard. Mira happily padded back the way she came, illuminated by the same blue line, and sighed.

"Farstrider really is distracting," Mira had said aimlessly, knowing Proxima was listening. "Isn't it great?"

O O O

The morning sky began to clear the fog around her head. Mira was lying on her side, the bandages on her shoulder removed since her wound had scabbed over. She was surrounded by short grass broken occasionally by a boulder or a wiry twoleg spire. A sleek snake-monster with green and blue stripes had all its double doors wide open. Faypaw was pacing back and forth in front of a chrome-clad security drone displaying something on its screens. His back was also free of its bandages.

"Faypaw?" Mira mumbled.

He turned his head, but a massive ball of fur blocked her vision.

"Oh good. Hey, she's awake—"

Mira's claws swiped and missed the mystery cat. She saw Faypaw run up behind her.

"She's a friend! She helped you out of the tunnels. Remember?"

"Right. The lynx." Mira remembered the pain of carrying her kit deeper into the tunnel after the gravity lapse. Her sleeves hadn't worked the whole time, so she collapsed when getting to where Proxima advised they go. The lynx they had seen the prior day was also hiding there and helped carry her onto the snake-monster. "Sorry, what was your name again?"

"Lilii Borea, ma'am." The lynx's voice was surprisingly high-pitched.

"She's not a threat," Faypaw said, nuzzling his mother's face. "I couldn't carry you after I woke up. But she's really strong."

Mira, who had met few cats larger than her, was dwarfed by the lynx. Her short, youthful coat was a natural tan and evenly spotted black. Her hind legs were so tall they arched her back slightly, their paws almost as wide as her face. Two long sideburns of fur draped under each cheek. Black tufts on the ends of alert ears made her look even taller than she already was. But her standout feature was her orange eyes scanning the barren landscape. Thick, horizontal pupils made it hard to tell exactly where her focus was.

"You're a chimera." Mira said.

"Yes, ma'am." Lilii Borea offered her paw. "I'm from the Sasquatch District."

"That's on the other side of the Shattered District." Mira was suddenly captivated with how closed they'd gotten to it. She could see more of the individual pieces floating above distant twoleg towers, with many more hidden behind the horizon line. The curvature of the ringworld was still clear as far as she could see up the cloudless, hazel sky. "How did you manage to cross it?"

"Not willingly, ma'am," Lilii Borea mumbled.

"She found something." Faypaw's ears dropped. "Poor Rush."

Lilii Borea dipped her head and ran towards the screen. Mira never told Faypaw Rush didn't survive, but she knew he would've asked Proxima to look for him, and she knew he would find out one way or another. She struggled to stand, her sleeves unresponsive. She tried a second time and they began vibrating and squeezing, returning her mobility. Even with them on, she felt several times heavier than normal and thumped to the ground in frustration. She could barely hear the two speaking with her ears still slightly ringing. She wiped the crusted blood from her nose and ears. She cursed at the rare moment she felt her age and stood again.

Before Mira could call to them, she noticed the scent of unusually damp soil. Darting her head around, she spotted another cat standing directly behind her. The mysterious molly was as tall as her but skinny. Her starry fur was covered in damp-looking mud and colorless grass stains scattered too evenly to be from tunneling or travelling. She smiled at Mira, briefly, before turning her glowing green eyes towards the others.

"You were the one I saw with Rush during the gravity lapse," Mira said.

"Yes, and I'm afraid he didn't make it. I guided him best I could but, without the stars in the sky, I'm just as lost as he was. But I promise I will find him… Dovewhisker. Former warrior and medicine cat for UnderClan." She sighed, resting a paw on Mira's shoulder. "I hope I don't frighten you."

"I'm too exhausted to be frightened twice," Mira whispered. "When Fleetheart first appeared, she was more… animated than you. No misty forms of cats or thunderstorms?"

"I heard Fleetheart was always scatterbrained. I'm glad someone else got to meet her at her best," Dovewhisker chuckled. "And that means I don't have to explain to you that you aren't dead. Do you mind if I tag along for a while? Well, I already did when you were asleep. I overheard everything you're trying to do from your kit and that lynx. That's a tall order for a cat. Even one with the twoleg objects on her side."

"I'm hoping what I do really will restore StarClan," Mira yawned. "I'd be honored for the company, regardless of how many ghost cats and weather phenomena you spawn."

"I like you," Dovewhisker purred. "I've visited many cats in my time in StarClan… I think? Just tell me anything you need to make your journey easier."

Mira could feel a second wind pour over her. Dovewhisker's earthy scent put her mind at ease against the emptiness surrounding them. She preferred the older molly's gentle voice and grace to Fleetheart's sporadic appearances, but still missed the bouncy young molly and hoped to see her again. Mira was finally steady on her paws and able to focus on the others. Faypaw's ears were low and his stumpy tail was limp. The fur on the adolescent lynx's back was on end.

"Dovewhisker, what do you make of her?" Mira pointed to Lilii Borea as she slowly walked towards the snake-monster.

"I hate to assume about someone I'll never really meet, but I feel lonely in her presence. Lonelier than any cat ever should be. I knew another in my life who carried the same burden, even when she tried to help me. It can be agonizing."

"All that from a passing glance?"

The StarClan medicine cat tapped her nose. "StarClan cats feel deeper than most. Though, I was never a good judge of character in life, so…"

Lilii Borea hesitated to put a paw on Faypaw's slumped shoulders. She looked nervous to do so, but he seemed receptive to it. "Sorry about him," she said.

"I really thought Proxima would be wrong, somehow," Faypaw mewed.

"Why did you have to show him that?" Lilii Borea growled at the security drone, showing she really wasn't much older than her kit and was just being extra polite to her.

"I wanted to see." Faypaw shook out his fur and leapt into the snake-monster. "Mira wouldn't have hidden it from me, either. Standing vigil? I think that's what we do at a time like this."

The lynx's anger seemed to melt at Faypaw's words. Her own bobbed tail vibrated at his purr, and she didn't even try to hide it. But he nervously looked away when he caught himself staring at her gleeful face. Before she boarded the snake-monster, she glanced at Mira and crouched beneath its entrance.

"I've been told you might need help walking, ma'am." Lilii Borea dipped her head at Mira's approach and barely managed to hide her eagerness to sit near Faypaw. "At least for now. Allow me."

Mira narrowed her eyes playfully at the screen, knowing Proxima could see it. "I guess I aggravated my legs pretty bad. Thank you for the help."

Lilii Borea bowed again as Mira climbed her back and into the snake-monster. Dovewhisker smirked at the lynx and followed. Mira dragged herself onto one of the soft seats and curled up. The security drone was the last to board, rolling into a cavity in the monster's side just for it. They could feel the weight shift a little as it did. Lilii Borea scoffed at it, sitting next to Faypaw on a different seat and smiling at him. Faypaw grinned back nervously. The levitating snake-monster gently picked up speed. Dovewhisker curled up under Mira's seat and dozed off. She did the same.