Caravan Campsite
Just across the Milk Run bridge from Stonebarrow, this flat, clear area has been set aside for travelers and merchants. Two freshwater wells are on site, along with a large map of the area and some bathroom facilities next to the swamp (where nobody will notice the smell). A sturdy corral is set up for Dromodons or other drays.

Another day has passed in the small town. Kalila has been seen romping about with Miranda and staying mostly out of trouble. Gunther has been following them on and off, as he's been spotted skulking in the shadows and diving behind the odd barrel. But, other than that, it was pretty quiet. Today will likely be different! Both Amelia and Olivia received word that Natasha wished to see them. The message was cryptic. Something about opening their eyes a bit. In any event, the two show up at the gypsy camp at roughly the same time. It looks as it always does; moderate activity. Liliana is sitting on top of her wagon and watching the camp. Fortunately for Amelia, she hasn't seen the Kadie yet.

Amy clutches the borrowed textbook (along with her scribbled notes) to her chest, and smiles to Olivia. "So… nervous?" she asks the Skeek.

Olivia sprints a little to catch up to her friend before replying. "Just a bit, yeah," she admits. She fingers one of the buttons on her bright yellow blouse, then says, "But I asked Natasha to show me, so I can't just back out now!"

"Well, at least we'll get all the fuzzy incoherent details first-hand this time," Amy notes, and knocks on the door to Natasha's wagon.

Olivia grins at the Kadie girl now. "So they can be fuzzy and incoherent to us, too?" she asks, whiskers twitching.

The knocking gets the Eee's attention on the far side of the camp.  She calls out towards the pair, "No fair! Vou be sneakin' aroun' Vou can' escape bein' dyed forever. I get both o' you soon!"

"I hope the spell doesn't make us feel silly enough to let Lili get her hands on us," Amy whispers.

Very shortly after that footsteps can be heard approaching the door. "Ah, vou got my message, den," comes the accented Natasha. She's apparently keeping up her 'persona' in case anyone might be listening.

Olivia sighs in exasperation and calls back to Lili, "You already got me dyed, remember? Can you give it a rest, please?"

"No!" Liliana calls back as Natasha's door opens. She walks out, dressed in dark robes, a veil, and carrying a shoulder-bag. "Ve haf a short valk. I set up a circle in de woods to keep away pryin' eyes," she says. "Thank vou for coming, Miss Veaver, Miss Blacktail."

Olivia mutters something under her breath that sounds very much like, "… can see why you call her the winged annoyance… " before saying hello to Natasha.

"The woods?" Amy asks, but follows along. "I didn't bring any serious weapons if the ritual attracts something," she cautions.

"Ve aren't going dat far in," Natasha notes. She closes the door behind herself and latches the lock. "Been enjoying de book, I see," she comments.

"Well… it's a tough read," Amy admits. "I don't understand most of the stuff it talks about, but I've been copying down the descriptions of things and what they supposedly represent."

Olivia falls in behind the two, listening with interest to the talk about magical theory.

"Vithout de references of actual experience, most von' make much sense, no. How can anyone understand what is mean' by de flow, vhen dey never see it?" Natasha says with a nod and then starts walking towards the edge of the camp. "Dis vey."

"Do we need to chant or sing anything?" Amy asks.

"Vou? No. I be handlin' de ritual bit. Best t'ing vou can do is not freak out, damage de circle, or run," the Khatta notes as they slip into the woods. "Vou vill haf to put up with some boredom, though. It take some time to set this up and I done as much as I coul' vithout vou."

"Well, that's a relief – about the singing, I mean," Olivia chimes in. "I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket! Every time I hum while I'm working, the other apprentices always ask me to shut up."

"I'm not worried about boredom," Amelia says, holding up the book. "I've got this."

In a couple of minutes, the group enters a small clearing in the woods near the camp. The ground has been cleared and a circle, perhaps ten feet across, has been drawn in the dirt. Inside that circle is a triangle, stretching to touch points on the circles perimeter. All around the circle runes have been drawn in the dirt. Some Amelia recognizes immediately from the book, such as 'gateway', 'spirit', and 'bonding'. Though what their purpose or meaning is along with the myriad of other symbols is well beyond the 'level' of that book. "Each ov vou pick a point in de triangle to sit. Be vithin de circle and triangle, please. And oh, don' break the lines, please, it kin affect things," Natasha notes as she carefully steps into the mage's circle.

Amy picks the corner to Natasha's left, and asks, "Does it matter if our tails go outside the circle?" before actually sitting down.

Olivia walks over to the inscribed circle-and-triangle and carefully steps over to a corner and sits, taking great care not to brush any of the lines. "How's this?" she asks.

"Inside. All of vou needs to be within," Natasha says. She waits for both girls to be positioned then looks each of them over. "Dat's fine," she says with a nod and sets her bag down. She digs into it for a moment and pulls out something. Walking over to Olivia, she kneels down. "Hands out, eyes closed, please," she instructs.

Olivia quirks her left eyebrow quickly at the older woman but does as she says. Now she's actually starting to feel more nervous!

From Olivia's perspective, she can feel Natasha take each of her hands and run something along the back of them in a pattern. And in a few seconds, she can feel something being traced over her brow and under her eyes. Now, from Amelia's perspective, she sees Natasha drawing with chalk on the backs of Olivia's hands and around her eyes. The patterns again are some she's seen referenced in the book. They have something to do with seeing the hidden. "Vou are next," Natasha comments absently to Amelia.

"The chalk will wash off, right?" Amy asks, setting the book in her lap to free up her hands.

"Will I be able to open my eyes eventually, or do I have to keep them closed from now on?" Olivia asks.

"It vashes off. And vou can open dem now. I just didnt' vant to get chalk in dem. That hurts," Natasha notes and stands. The Khatta heads over to Amelia next. She kneels down before her, then says, "Eyes closed, Miss Blacktail. Von' take but a moment."

The Kadie closes her eyes and holds out her hands.

Olivia breathes out slowly and opens her eyes to watch Natasha chalk lines on Amy's face now.

Amelia nods. "It will be a good learning experience."

"Den relax and prepare to cross over de boundary," Natasha says. The Khatta then closes her eyes and starts breathing slowly and rhythmically. With graceful and deliberate movement, her hands come up and she starts tracing patterns in the air with her fingertips. As each symbol is traced, she starts chanting softly to herself. The language is not one Amelia or Olivia understands, most likely Khattan.

Curling her tail around herself, Amy closes her eyes and focuses on her breathing, as she'd been trained to do to deal with the pain of being wounded in battle.

The chanting goes on, and on, and on. Natasha was right about being prepared for some boredom. Then Natasha's tone shifts and her gestures become more jerky, snapping side to side, then around. In the middle of the chanting, Amelia can hear references to her name and to Olivia's. The air around them goes incredibly still and the forest grows silent.

Olivia crosses her legs, again careful not to disturb any of the drawn lines, and rests her hands on her knees. To keep her nervousness at bay, she makes herself concentrate on the complex loom pattern she was learning just yesterday.

More time passes. Just when it seems like nothing is really happening, a ripple of what feels like static rolls up both Olivia and Amelia's backs. The places with the chalk-lines drawn upon them tickle, itch, then start to grow warm.

Here we go, Olivia thinks, her heart beating a little faster now. Try to keep calm.

Amy snaps out of her trance and starts paying attention to what's happening now.

The air around them crackles and the scents of what almost seems like an approaching storm assault their senses. It's then that arcs of electric blue energy start to crackle and bounce around on the tracings of the circle and the triangle. Natasha continues on with her chanting and tracing in the air … except now thin blue lines follow her fingertips, leaving an afterimage of of the symbols the Khatta draws in its wake.

The Kadie has to wonder if being able to see the glowing traces is a sign that the spell is working already.

Olivia winces as the crackling arcs of energy zip and zing around them, now very glad that she is a few good inches away from all the lines!

Except that doesn't mean you aren't out of the range of the arcs. The energy starts jumping across the circle with a crackle of sound. Some pass dangerously close to the two and even to Natasha, who seems to pay no attention whatsoever to them. Natasha's eyes open and she looks forward with an amazing intensity. With each movement of her hands the energy of the circle jumps as if she were the conductor of an orchestra. Everything outside the circle seems to fade to the point of almost vanishing.

This is it, Amy thinks, trying to follow every little bolt.

Okay, Olivia thinks, perhaps watching the energy leap around isn't such a good idea. It's only making me more nervous! So she looks instead at Natasha's hands, weaving away in the air.

Natasha raises her hands upwards, toward a central point in the circle. The arcs of energy snap and hiss upward, slamming together into a large crackling ball of blue. She holds still for a moment and then the Khatta's hands surge back down and then outwards towards the other two. Time for the two seems to slow to a crawl and all sound vanishes. Each can see a bolt of electric blue snap out from the ball and heading right towards them. Even with every action drawn out in slow motion, there seems to be no time to react … no time to do anything. The bolts connect directly with their foreheads. The contact is followed by a brilliant flash of light and heat. Yet, amazingly, none of it is painful; the heat is like a warm hand being placed over their eyes. The world goes completely white … then completely black.

Olivia draws in a hissing breath between her teeth. Yeah, I didn't really want to see that coming… although the contact was not as bad as I thought it was going to be… She wonders, vaguely, when the blackness will end and some sort of vision will appear.

Amelia digs her claws into the cover of the book in her lap, and tries blinking her eyes several times to see if the blackness will clear up, hoping some glitch in the ritual hasn't struck her blind.

Pinpoints of light start to reappear in their vision. Minutes pass and the world starts to return to view. But … it is most certainly not the world either are used to seeing. The colors around them are all exaggerated and brilliant. There seems to be a flow of light or of water that each can see coming up from the ground and into the trees around them. It's like they can see the very life around them flowing. The sky … the sky above them glows sapphire blue and seems to ripple like waves in a pond. Natasha sits calmly across from both of them. She glows in white and her robes ripple and flow around her as if she was floating in water … much like the time they saw her when she and Axel were taking part in a ritual to trace the location of the necromancer. "Welcome to the other side," she says quietly. "I hope the crossover wasn't too rough?"

Amelia looks down at herself, asking, "Are we really in the realm of spirits, or just able to see it?" Her own fur is no longer dark brown, but a brilliant red, causing her to give an involuntary squeak.

Olivia is about to respond to the question but a flapping of clothing in the odd breeze of this place catches here eye. It comes from her own skirt; not the garish pink that it was in the 'real' world, but a very dark midnight blue, the same color as her blouse now. Her hair, however, is just as white as Natasha's robes. As she looks at herself and tries to take all this in, she falters, "I-I think I'm all right. Just weirded out by my changes a little bit."

"More in-between, Miss Blacktail. We cannot cross completely over unless we were dead," Natasha explains, her accent gone here. Also, when she speaks and moves she leaves what looks like afterimages; echoes of her actions that slowly fade. "From here the world of the spirits can see us more distinctly. But, the normal world cannot. We have stepped outside, you might say. Did you get to the part in the book about where it explains to imagine looking through a one-way mirror? If so, that is as good a way as any to explain it."

"So, as long as we stay within the circle, nobody outside in the real world can see us now?" Amy asks.

"Actually, we can go outside the circle and no one can see us. The ritual effect will last for a couple of hours," Natasha says as she gets to her feet a bit shakily. "You'll know when it's going as reality will snap back and forth from normal to this a few times. Is there any place in the town or surroundings you would like to go, to see? You can then see what I mean about seeing past, present, and future."

Olivia looks over at Amelia. "Do you think we should go to the town square? I was thinking of it because we'll probably meet Inaya there."

Amy licks her lips uncertainly. This could be an incredible military weapon, she thinks. "I suppose we should visit the Town Square, and see if we can see what might happen when Inaya meets everyone," she agrees.

Natasha nods her had. "As you like. This was done for you, after all," she notes and picks up her bag. "We'll have to pass through the gypsy camp. Please do not be alarmed if people do not appear as you expect."

Olivia gets to her feet now, as well. "This ought to be… interesting," she comments.

As Amelia gets up, she feels a bit concerned about seeing people like this without them knowing. "Maybe we shouldn't look too closely at people along the way, Olivia," Amy suggests. "It may a bit too personal, like seeing them naked."

The walk back to the camp is a journey through vibrant colors. Ripples of what sometimes looks like a stream of water in the air flows past them. The campsite is equally vibrant and looks so much more alive now. Most of the people look more or less the same, though it does take a few minutes to figure out who each person is. And that's right about when Olivia sees Liliana. Or, well, who she guesses is Liliana, at least. Except this dyed Eeee girl doesn't have feet, she has hooves, a spade tipped tail … and small horns sprouting from her forehead. Her usually pupilless eyes now have dark catlike pupils as well. And … she's talking with someone who looks nothing like anyone either have ever met before. It's a wolf, tall, thin, and with long hair. His expression is kind, but always seems a bit sad.

"That must be Bravil," Amelia points out.

Olivia doesn't say anything as they pass through the camp, she merely nods in agreement as Amy points out the thin wolf. She also decides to be a little kinder to him in the future, catching glimpses of his expression.

"It is. The man he is, and what he appears to be to others, is vastly different," Natasha notes. She pauses there to look at the wolf. "A gentleman trapped in the body of a beast," she adds and sighs softly, "And he loves me. I have never known what to do about that. I wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for him. He was the one who found me and tended to my wounds."

"Do you love him?" Amy asks, quietly.

"Yes, I do," Natasha admits honestly. "But, things are not that … simple."

"Maybe if you brought him here, they could be," the Kadie suggests.

Olivia now looks up at the older woman. "Are you afraid that if you let Bravil in, you'll have to tell him the truth about your life? Is that stopping you?"

"This is fleeting, Miss Blacktail. We cannot stay here long. All that bringing him here would do is further remind him of what can't be," the Khatta answers and looks back to the wolf. She draws a breath, then says to Olivia, "No, it's not that. I know Bravil wouldn't care. When you are a leader … there is a level of detachment you have to maintain. Your friend Morgan understands this too. You can't let those you lead close, or they may cloud your judgment and endanger everyone else. It's … not simple."

"Oh, forgot you were their leader," Amy says.

Olivia nods at this, dropping her gaze. "I see," is all she says. May I never have to lead anyone, then.

"I wish I could undo what was done to him. From what I could determine I believe he wasn't always like he is now. What you see of him now, in the mortal world, is the effect of being lost in a forbidden zone. His body and mind were warped. What you see here … is closer to what he once was," the Khatta notes. "I also guess that he's … two hundred years or so old."

Amy blinks, and says, "That's a long time to be stuck like that. I wonder if Igor or Dr. Pike can help him?"

"I don't know. It would likely require a mage from the sphere of life to really understand," Natasha says with a sigh. "There really is a reason this tribe was called the tribe of the lost. None of us really fit anywhere."

"You seem to do all right in Stonebarrow," Olivia offers with a small smile. "Not all of us are exactly 'normal,' either."

Bravil stops talking to Liliana and looks directly towards the group.

"Can he hear us or smell us?" Amy whispers.

The group can just hear him tell Liliana, "I feel like we're being watched … but no one is there. I must be imagining things."

Olivia whispers back to Amelia, "Maybe all that time in the forbidden zone gave him extra senses, too?"

"Let's move on," the Kadie suggests, "before we spot Djivan… "

Olivia rolls her eyes heavenward and says, "Goodness, yes. I'm not sure I want to see all aspects of his personality all at once! I might have a shock or heart failure or something."

The group moves on. It's really odd to see the town in this way. Images overlap each other and everything seems to move in echoing motion that leaves fading images. Once they reach the town square, the images get more and more chaotic and disconnected. "The longer a place has existed, the more echoes it has," Natasha tries to explain.

All the overlapping images make Olivia's eyes track movement at about twice the normal speed. She closes them briefly and massages her temples. "Yeah, I'm beginning to get that," she mutters. "Any sign of Inaya out there?"

Amelia focuses on just the images of tall people, trying to ignore the blur of locals. "Looking… " she replies.

Natasha closes her eyes, then says, "A ripple is coming. Brace yourselves."

"A… what?" Amy asks, before tensing up and looking around.

What looks like almost a wave of water suddenly rushes through the area and everything around them changes. It's night-time and a chorus of angry cries fill the air. Before them the group can see what looks like townsmen, but no-one that they can immediately recognize, dragging what look like Lapi and Skeek girls through the town. Screams of 'monsters!' can be heard. "A ripple. A moment in the past that scarred the town," Natasha says quietly as she watches. One of the Lapi girls is pulled by the group and she hisses at the townsmen. The Lapi has fangs; a vampire.

Olivia starts violently and looks at Amelia, wide-eyed. "Y-you don't think we just saw, er… Buffy, do you?"

"She's the only Lapi vampire I've ever heard of," Amy notes. "Lord Snapfish made her. This must be right before the town went and… uh… got rid of him."

In the distance the group can hear the blood-curdling scream of another girl, which is followed by the sound of an axe hitting wood, cutting the scream short. "I think he made several," Natasha says, "And your town must have hunted them down. I … think I shall try to push away this memory." Her hands come up and she starts chanting softly.

Olivia shudders. "Yeah… Isolde told me once that the clans all 'took care' of the girls that he had made into servants. I guess this is how they did it."

"Yes," Amy says. "Although they were a bit more thorough with Snapfish himself. He was beheaded, staked, impaled, stuffed with garlic and then burned."

The images around them snap and ripple as Natasha chants. As they start to fade, the group can see Lord Snapfish himself being dragged through town on the way to meet his fate. And then … normalcy, or as close as this place can offer, returns.

"What triggered that?" Amelia asks. "Was it because I had been thinking about Buffy?"

Olivia looks after the faded images and mutters, "What a fun job that must've been."

"Usually someone thinking about it, or something going on that has a tie to the event, yes," Natasha answers with a nod. "So, it may have been you, or someone in your town may be still associating with a vampire from that time."

"Keep an eye out for Clover and her mob," Amy says to Olivia, and goes back to watching the center of the square, near the fountain. If there's a ceremony, it'd be there, so Inaya is more likely to appear close to it.

Olivia nods to Amelia and scans the rest of the town's center, looking for Parsley and Clover's familiar forms.

"If you want to see a future event, try concentrating directly on the person for a minute or so," Natasha advises. She closes her eyes, presumably to think on her sister.

Amelia nods, and pictures Inaya's face in her mind.

"Okay," says Olivia, stopping her gaze at one particular shop and thinking just about the Lapi twins. It's not a particularly interesting subject for her, but if one or both of them is consorting with a vampire, then the safety of the town could be in jeopardy.

The world around them starts to ripple like waves on a pond again. Overlapping gets worse and worse until it becomes a chaotic swirl. Parts of it seem to be the Lapi girls … or at least one of them … all dressed in black. Another is a slow moving flicker of Inaya, approaching what looks like it might be … Olivia and Amelia! Or at least future versions of themselves.

The Kadie tries to focus more on Inaya. "Come one," she mutters. "How will you react to Isolde and Natasha?"

Olivia shakes her head vehemently and mutters to herself, "Okay, that isn't working out right. Maybe concentrate on one thing at a time?" She abandons her thoughts of Parsley and Clover and switches to thinking just about Inaya.

The world snaps and some of the chaos subsides. The images of Inaya solidifies. She's standing in the square amidst the group who fought the necromancer. To the possible shock of Amelia, Inaya curtsies to Isolde. "Thank you for helping end a nightmare," she tells the older Kadie. Natasha's reaction to this, the Natasha with them in this strange place, is one to stare at her sister. "Inaya… " she says softly and takes a stuttering step towards her.

"Wait," Amy says, trying to grab the current Natasha's robe.

"Yeah, is trying to touch any of these images a good idea?" Olivia chimes in, looking worried.

Amelia gets a firm grip on Natasha's robe and it stops her. The events before them are still indistinct, the sound cutting in and out. People seem to jump from spot to spot instead of just walking. "The future is always uncertain," Natasha says softly. "You can only see possibilities. Things that may make no sense."

Olivia sighs in relief as Amy gets a hold of Natasha's robes. When the moment has passed, she asks, "When you're done focusing on this possible part of the event, I'd like to focus on some other aspect."

"Well, I can see that you meeting Inaya, even in disguise, could be a problem," Amelia notes, then continues to watch the tableau of possibilities. "Let's see how Inaya might react now… "

The image of Inaya approaches a future Amelia. In her hands is something, but from where the group stands, they can't make out what.

Olivia hmms and now wonders if they're approaching what she wanted to see in this chain of events, after all.

"She must be giving me the reward she mentioned," Amy notes. "I'll have to remind Gunther to wear his medal when the time comes for this… "

Olivia nods toward Amy. "That was what I wanted to see, actually. Maybe my thoughts of that are helping things along?"

Whatever it was is opened, or folded apart, or, well, something. Then there's suddenly a flash of glittering metal. A long metal blade arcs in slow motion through the air and down towards the future Amelia! Then everything snaps again and reality returns to its quasi-normal state. Inaya and the group are gone.

"Ummm," Amelia goes. "That was unexpected."

Olivia looks grimly between the others. "That's why I wanted to see anything connected with this whole 'reward' idea," she says. "Whenever anyone mentions 'giving people what they deserve,' I tend to get a bit nervous."

"Do not assume the worst," Natasha says quietly. "What you see are reflections and possibilities. They can have many, many, meanings."

Olivia nods again, this time to Natasha. "Yes, I remember you telling that to me before. What this does show me, however, is that an unpleasant outcome to this is not out of the realm of possibility."

"But… how could that even be a possibility?" Amy wonders. "Why would she want to kill me… unless the gift is a fancy blade she wanted me to catch it? Would she be mad about someone other than you defeating the necromancer, Natasha?"

"I haven't seen her in near twenty years, Miss Blacktail. I … could not begin to guess at her thoughts," Natasha admits. "I really don't know what that could mean."

"You say honor is very important, to the point where people would kill others or themselves," Amelia notes. "Is there some point of honor that my death would fulfill?"

Natasha considers that question. While she thinks, the images around them ripple and contort again in chaos. "There would be no point of honor regarding you unless you somehow defamed our family. Which you haven't to my knowledge. I don't even know how many of my family still live. Have you killed a Khatta before?" she asks.

"No, I've never killed a person," Amelia claims.

"You killed the necromancer, and that was a person," Natasha points out. "Are you telling us the truth?"

"Necromancers aren't people, they're monsters," Amelia points out. "They've given up everything that makes them a person."

"Given that I doubt the necromancer has any relation to my sister, then, I do not think you have to worry about a point of honor demanding your death," Natasha then remarks.

"Well, I'll just… be on my guard when the time comes," Amelia says, and looks at Olivia next. "You had better be, too."

"I will. Expect the best and prepare for the worst, as my dad always says," Olivia quips, although her tone is serious. "Now, are we going to try and see what comes up when we think of Clover and Parsley?"

Amy nods. "Hopefully not a repeat of Buffy being dragged off," she says, and thinks about the two Lapis.

Reality turns on its head again. A swirl of sights, sounds and smells. Eventually, it stabilizes around the group. In the center of town sits a Lapi dressed in all black, surrounded by a gaggle of giggling girls.

It could be Clover, from the crowd around her, but this version seems emaciated, with sunken eyes and lips unable to cover her teeth anymore, with a sickly green aura about her.

"That is a ghoul," Natasha says in a whisper. "A servant of the undead."

"Hard to imagine Clover serving any interest but her own," Amelia murmurs. "No way to tell if this is the past, present or future though, is there?"

Olivia's eyebrows threaten to vanish into her hairline. "Okay, this could be very, very bad," she says. "But why are all those girls around her? Wouldn't a ghoul frighten them off?"

"That's just what she looks like here," Amy points out. "Not her real-world appearance."

"Well, do you recognize any in the group?" Natasha asks quietly, "You tell by context. Get closer and look at the group."

Amelia moves closer, trying to recognize faces past the spirit-aspects. "They look like the usual bunch that hang on Clover's every word," she says. "You can almost see the puppet-strings. I hope my mob doesn't look like this here."

"Do you have a mob?" Natasha asks.

"If they look no noticeably older, then it's either the present or near future," Natasha then adds.

"Not like Clover's," Amelia says. "They don't gather round in a big group. May not even know each other very well for that matter. I like to think they're more independent."

"It's hard to tell with this group," Amy admits. "They like to act older, but actually seem less mature for their ages. What's the word… shallow?"

"Should we try to listen in on what they're saying?" Olivia asks.

"Err, I'd rather not," Amelia notes. "If Bravil could feel something, then maybe Clover can too if she's tied in to Buffy. I'll ask one of my spies."

"Is there anything more you wish to see or places to visit?" Natasha inquires quietly. "Or shall we return to the circle?"

"I'd like to peek in on my initiation ceremony, but that's all the way up at the dam, or nearby it," Amy notes. "We need to be in the circle when the ritual ends, don't we?"

"Well, the only other place I'd had in mind was the dam, too," Olivia admits. "If Inaya hadn't shown up here, that would've been the next place I'd want to visit. But we can still go, I'm up for it!"

"Well, unless you want to want to just appear in town and cause a stir," Natasha says, "Which would cause some questioning… "

"What about taking a look inside Inaya's cabin?" Amelia asks Olivia. "I don't know what it might reveal, but… I don't know what to think about her now."

Olivia mmms. "That's not a bad idea, Amelia. That might give us some more insight into what she has planned for this ceremony of hers."

"I should note you can walk through walls currently. So … choose which cabin in hers and we can just go in," Natasha says and looks off into the chaos.

"Okay, it's the big one," Amy says, heading for the cabins behind the inn. "And it has big tigers standing guard."

Olivia follows along in Amy's wake, commenting, "It may also have a Gunther trying to listen in on what they're saying inside again, too. Too bad I can't scare him away in this form!"

A short walk later and the incredibly odd sensation of walking through a wall, which could be described like walking through pudding, the group finds themselves standing in the cabin. In this strange world, the tigers don't really appear all that intimidating. They seem smaller and less threatening. Inaya can be heard walking around in her bedroom.

Amelia sticks her head through the wall to peek into the bedroom.

"Ah, be careful doing that," Natasha says, "If the ritual fades, you'll be stuck there." Inside the bedroom is a pacing Inaya. She's muttering quietly to herself. It's Khattan, but for some reason Amelia can actually understand it, what little she can hear, anyway. She knows she can hear her name mentioned, at least.

Olivia ughs at the sight of Amelia with her head through a wall and her body and tail sticking out the other side! She opts to just walk completely through the wall to stand in the bedroom.

Natasha shakes her head and follows Olivia into Inaya's bedroom. "… not what I expected this place would be like. What they would be like," Inaya is saying when Olivia comes through.

"Maybe we're actually a little smarter than she thought we'd be," Olivia says, with just a hint of sarcasm.

Amy steps all the way through as well, after the warning from Natasha.

"Women are fighters here. Women," Inaya says quietly to herself, "That Miss Blacktail, a warrior. Why, that's against the proper way of nature. She should be in a proper dress."

"Proper dresses don't fit me," Amelia grumbles.

Olivia's whiskers twitch in amusement as she suggests, "Perhaps you should wear the skirt I altered for you when we next see Inaya. That fits you."

The Kadie nods, and then focuses back on the muttering Khatta. "She seems upset… or do Khattas normally act like this?"

"And that poor colorblind mouse. At least she wears a dress … but her colors, my," Inaya goes on. "But, at least Master Erik is proper. He should make this town right."

"She's uncomfortable. When us Khatta get uncomfortable, we tend to pace and complain. She's a long way from home," Natasha says, sounding a bit sad. She looks at the younger Khatta with obvious affection and takes a step towards her.

"Wow, she didn't think he was a kook after all," Amelia says in wonder.

Olivia blinks for a few seconds, trying to decide whether she should be angry or amused by this. In the end, she opts for amused – laughter is easier. "I see I haven't escaped her judgments, either!"

Inaya goes over to a chest in the corner and raises the top. She lifts out a box about three feet long and opens it. The contents aren't readily visible by the group.

"The tigers must be intimidating the otters still," Amy notes, then tries to get into a better position to see what is in the box.

Amelia gets a chance to see what looks like part of a metal blade before Inaya closes the case and sets it back into the chest and closes it. "And to ask me to go to the town square instead of the dam. The square isn't very private. How can I do what must be done with the whole town watching?" the feline frets.

"Okay, that sounds suspicious," Amy notes.

Olivia narrows her eyes. "Let's hope 'doing what must be done' doesn't involve taking a swipe at you, Amelia. I'm beginning to be sorry that I told her you were the one to actually kill the necromancer!"

"But, would you want to have a ceremony in front of an entire town of strangers?" Natasha points out and sounding rather defensive.

"Why did it have to be a girl?" Inaya asks the room, sounding frustrated. "It's not proper."

"Does the phrase 'what must be done' mean 'I really look forward to doing this' in your culture?" Amelia asks Natasha.

"Honor demands many things that 'must be done', which are not bad things, but may be uncomfortable to the person doing it," Natasha says quickly.

"Like… oh, giving away some family heirloom sword maybe?" Amy asks. "If you have a family heirloom sword, that is. Do you?"

"No, we didn't have any swords that I remember," Natasha answers and peers towards the chest.

Olivia thinks past her suspicions for a minute and adds, "Do your people have knights, Natasha? I've heard about ceremonies like that, giving someone a knighthood for good deeds done. They involve swords, too, by touching the knighted person with them. But then, that would actually assume your sister can confer such honors upon people."

"No, we don't have knights," Natasha tells Olivia. She then just walks over to Inaya, reaches out, and touches her. Her fingers sink into the other feline, but the other feline shows no notice of it.

"As long as I don't have to marry Kalila," Amy says. "It doesn't make sense though. If she was going to do something violent, she wouldn't have brought her daughter along. I'm still not sure why she brought her at all… "

Olivia hrms and says to herself, "Then we're back to the theories of Inaya giving Amelia a gift or trying to kill her. Terrific."

"Why would Inaya bring her daughter? Why didn't she leave her with her husband," Natasha says aloud, obviously as confused at Amelia. Her hand draws back.

"There must be some special reason for Kalila to be here, but I didn't notice her at the vision of the ceremony," Amy says.

Olivia now looks at the other two. "Well, if she could give those tiger guards the slip once, she could do it again," she suggests. "Maybe she was around somewhere but we just couldn't see her because she was hiding? Or even elsewhere?"

"Could it be some honor that's normally only reserved for men then?" Amy asks.

All of a sudden, reality snaps to normal, then shifts back to the strange flowing world. Inaya jerks and spins her heads towards where the group was standing. She clutches at her chest and steps backwards. "Tasha… " she says weakly, sounding like she's seen a ghost.

Olivia starts violently for the second time during their strange journey. "Time to go!" she snaps.

"Uh, yeah!" Amy says, and dashes through the door.

Natasha tenses up and says, "Yes, times up, we have to go. Now. Spell will fade in fifteen minutes or less. She saw us briefly. As if seeing a ghost." Natasha then heads quickly through the wall, then through the wall of the cabin and back outside.

Olivia follows along after a last look at the other Khatta, just to make sure that she's not about to drop into a dead faint or something.

"Well, we are ghosts now, sort of," Amelia notes, hurrying back toward the Gypsy camp. "And you say we might keep seeing these spirit-aspects of people for a time?"

All Olivia hears is, "Don't leave me, Tasha. Not again … please." And the Khatta is gone. Natasha is hurrying after Amelia outside. "Yes, you may. In bursts. It won't be constant. It most often happens when there are surges of emotion involved," she says.

"Are you sure you can't let her know you're alive?" Amy asks the older Khatta.

Olivia grimly runs after the other two. All these opposing actions… she's nice one moment, questionable the next. Natasha's sister sure is hard to read. I don't know what to think!

"I can't. She wouldn't understand," Natasha claims as the group is heading back into the woods. Before them is the clearing and the circle. Waves of normalcy and energy snap around them, coming faster and faster.

"Wouldn't understand, or wouldn't forgive you?" Amelia mutters.

"Run more – argue later!" she Skeek says, panting a short distance behind them.

The moment the group all enter the circle. The colors and energy that was surrounding them crash and fade. Everything seems to pause and then reality come snapping back into view. Gone is the glowing white Natasha, the bright red Amelia, and white and blue Olivia. Reality returns, for good or bad. "And now you know how I sometimes see the future. Except what I see isn't so strong normally. Possibilities. The future is just possibilities," the Khatta says between deep breaths.

Olivia pulls in large gulps of air, too. When she can talk again, she turns to Amelia and says, "Look, I know you're a better fighter than all of us put together, but watch yourself until Inaya leaves, okay? We almost lost Zahn – I don't want to think about losing you, too!"