The airship has made its way north and out of the frozen southern realm, riding part of the way on the Outpost, and – thanks to the clever Kavi navigator – hitching rides on two small sky islands to save on fuel and giving the crew a chance to make contact with a few more scattered Yverneti and sabertooth clans. According to the most recent charts of Rephidim's movement, it should actually be located over the southwestern Savan, about as fortuitous an arrangement as there could be … though the charts are old by now, with this round-about trip and no contact with "civilization", so there is a margin of error that may result in some wandering about to find the island's exact position.

Land has been in sight for a day now, as the triple-envelope zeppelin cruises off the coast of Bromthen – avoiding unnecessary treks over borders of former Nagai Empire states with uncertain governance, as there's no telling if there might be bandits taking advantage of the confusion, or despots claiming sovereignty of the sky above their domains. The temperature has gone from cold to temperate, as the summer of the southern hemisphere is waning, giving way to southern autumn, though the temperature promises to rise as the craft moves up and closer to the equator. Sukara has let slip vague hints that she isn't expecting to remain with the airship much longer.

It is night time now, and Elijah has had a fitful night, trying to sleep. Time enough has passed for him to recover from the wounds sustained in the explosion in the Tower of Ice, but he has still been plagued with recollections of the wailing monks and the isetis-creature in its icy cocoon, and reading through the demented ramblings of the Champion of his Ice in his personal journals did little to help matters … except to persuade Elijah that the Champion wasn't some poor, mild-mannered innocent led to slaughter by Isetia.

It seems that only seconds have passed that Elijah has been able to slip off to sleep, even if in actuality it may have been minutes or even hours. The mocking form of Isetia appears in his dream again, just as he's about to smash her into thousands of icy pieces, and then suddenly she lets out a banshee-like shriek that abruptly snaps Elijah out of his dream and into half-wakefulness. It seems to take oh so long for his mind to connect that it was just a dream, that he's awake now, and that … oh yes … the scream was real.

Elijah fumbles out of bed, clamoring for his gunblade and a lantern. "Sukara?" he scrawks, wondering if she was the source of the noise or if it's coming from outside his cabin.

As Elijah's senses adjust to the waking world, he is able to tell that Sukara is sitting bolt upright in the bunk she has claimed (as having Elijah sleep on the floor for the whole trip just wouldn't do, and it still wouldn't be a good idea to stick her in with the regular crew). Her eyes are wide, and she shakes with rapid breaths.

The Vartan puts his hand on Sukara's mattress and shakes it, not wanting to startle the bat further by grabbing her in the dark. "Sukara, what happened?"

The black bat takes a few moments of breathing rapidly … then she can be heard to forcibly calm herself. At last, she takes a deep breath, then says, "My apologies. A nightmare. I … I think I am in need of a change in my plans."

Elijah pauses, looking quizzically at the bat and then resuming his search for his lantern while his heart stops its hammering in his chest from his own nightmare. "It's all right. Sometimes the change in climate can do things like that. But why a change in plans?"

Sukara pauses a moment more, still collecting her wits, then says, "I need to go to Rephidim."

"Why?" The Vartan fiddles with the sparker for his light, blowing on it to coax it into growing.

Sukara shakes her head. "Personal business. It would be best that I not tell you too much. I will go through whatever procedure is necessary, and will not make you party to any subterfuge. It is simply paramount that I go to Rephidim."

Elijah frowns. "Unless you intend to go to Rephidim as my prisoner for real, I will not aid you in any subterfuge against the country, if only in enabling you to travel there. I may have been wounded by it, but I am still a loyal citizen." He sets the lantern down, his brown feathers painted gold by the dim light.

The black bat looks down. "If that is how it must be, then so it must be. I have no choice in the matter."

"Sukara!" The Vartan rubs his head. "Were you sent some kind of message? I would think that we have been together long enough for you to be able to trust me somewhat. Why can't you tell me what this is about?"

The black bat looks up to Elijah. "It is not your problem, and it would be improper for me to burden a man of honor with such things. This is a matter of my Goddess, and I would not expect you to be especially concerned about Her affairs."

Elijah is silent for a long time, focusing on a point beyond the bat with his eyes as he ponders things. "Are they going to make you kill someone?"

Sukara starts a bitter laugh, then abruptly cuts it off. "I am not on a mission of assassination."

"Are you going to do something that will cause you to kill yourself, then?" He hardly moves, and still won't look at Sukara.

"No," Sukara says, abruptly. "I am willing to sacrifice myself, if necessary, but I do not throw my life away needlessly."

Elijah nods. "All right then. Is this about the sea of souls and the Srinala?"

The bat gives Elijah a sour look. "Shall we play a game, and I let you ask fifty questions, and see if you finally hit the mark? If you are so set on knowing my business, then I will tell you, but you ask more than you have need to."

"You wake up in the middle of the night screaming like you've had your wings cut off, and tell me you want to go to a country where there are people who may want to kill you just out of spite from bad feelings from the war. Regardless of how independent you feel, I will still feel responsible for you. Because of that, I would like to know what your business is, yes, especially if it may concern me in ways that you do not even know I have involvement in." The Vartan lets a frustrated snort escape his nostrils.

Sukara relents from her facade of hurt indignation as she looks to the wall. It is apparent that appeals to privacy and "none of your business" won't wash with the Vartan. "Sunala requires my assistance, as I am the only Yodhsunala so close to Rephidim at this moment. Some mages have abducted a Srinala – one who walks and speaks, and is endowed with Sunala's presence in the material world. This child is blessed to Sunala, and Sunala wishes no harm to come to her. So, I am to deliver her from their hands."

Elijah's ears go flat against his head. "What did they do to the one who was guarding over her? A child who was about thirteen years old."

Sukara blinks. "How … ?"

"My daughter," the Vartan replies coldly. "We'd found the Srinala while traveling to Shabar. Now would you please answer the question … honestly … before my heart leaps out of my chest."

The bat blinks, then says, "She has attempted to protect the Srinala. She is unharmed. I have been specifically instructed that nothing is to be done to put her or her brother at risk."

Elijah bristles all the more. "They kidnapped my children?" He fights to keep from trembling. "Sukara, do you know what would happen if my children were brought to Babel?"

"No," Sukara says, shaking her head. "I am only going to confuse you further, answering questions like this. Your children were not abducted. They are in Rephidim, and the Srinala is as well. She is being kept in the Mages' Guild Hall, in the custody of the mages there. The children – your children attempted to stop those who came to take her away. They were unsuccessful, but they are unharmed."

"So they have not been taken prisoner?" He cools a few degrees, having been worked up almost to the point of tears. "Sukara, would it mean anything if I begged you not to do this? Srinala is just a child mentally, and is already being used as a puppet by something that I don't fully understand. The Sea of Souls did not dry up. It's all gathered up inside of her."

Sukara looks to Elijah. "I cannot abandon the Srinala. They are going to kill her."

"WHO is going to kill her?" The Vartan rubs his head again. "Aren't the mages holding her on your side?"

"No," the bat says, shaking her head again. "The mages holding her are from the Mages' Guild Hall in Rephidim. If they are on any 'side', it is that of Caroban. These mages of which I speak, these mages serving Caroban, are the ones threatening the life of the Srinala."

"In that case, you have just gained the help of someone to aid you in rescuing her." He sinks down in his bed. "Why do they want to kill Srinala?"

"They are enemies of Sunala," Sukara says, shrugging helplessly. "I do not understand precisely what their role in this is. All I know is that they seek to destroy the Srinala in order to oppose Sunala, and that I must do everything in my power to prevent this from happening."

"Srinala, when she is asleep, plays the roles of all of the characters in the realm of the goddess. Killing her would cause all of the characters she plays to cease to exist, which would probably cause damage to the realms." Elijah shakes his head. "Caroban is supposed to be neutral. Why take a stand on this at all? Maybe Envoy becoming possessed by Inala has them scared."

Sukara frowns at this. "I do not think I understand what you are speaking of, regarding this 'playing of roles'. I suspect it is a theological difference, and I do not wish to quibble with you on such things. As for what motivates them, I do not think I will know until we reach Rephidim, and I find some means of dealing with this. If this is an official maneuver of theirs, it is my hope to force a delay on their action. A Srinala would be a citizen of Babel, and unless Caroban has declared war on Babel, I do not see any justification for such an action."

"All right, I'll put it this way. Although I've not visited it myself, I am led to understand that there is another realm where mortals visit the sisters, correct?" The Vartan strokes his beak in thought.

"Tales are told of such things, yes," Sukara says, furrowing her brow as she tries to follow Elijah's lead.

"Well when people visit there, there are probably priests and guards and followers and all sorts of 'background color' folks. That's Srinala, playing all of these roles. I don't know how or why, but you'll probably see it for yourself soon enough." He mashes his palm against his eye. "I hope my lance is free. I might need them."

"Your lance?" Sukara echoes.

Elijah lets his breath out. "You're going to find outanyway. I'm surprised you've not found out already." He shakes his head. "I'm a member of the Knights Templar, the Violet Lance. I am taking this trip to redeem myself because I do not feel that I have lived up to the standards of the Order, and I feel guilty for hating those who were once my masters. That is why I became so worried when I thought that Babelites had kidnapped my children. You know what would be done to them out of revenge for my role in the war if they ever fell into enemy hands?"

Sukara frowns. "I had suspected your identity. I simply did not understand what you meant by hoping that your lance was 'free'. As for your children … whomever would lay a hand upon them would answer to the Yodhsunala, such is the gravity of Her concern." The stress that Sukara puts on "answer" is one heavily laden with meaning.

"The Knights have been dissolved by the Temple and we are forming our ranks independently. Right now my lancers are stripping my sanctuary to have it moved elsewhere and also looking to recruit new squires to help us fill up the gaps in our ranks caused by the war." He wrings his hands. "What does Sunala want with Srinala? Why is she so important?"

"Sunala desires to have the Srinala brought to Her temple in Babel, where she may be kept safe," Sukara says. "Surely, it is because this Srinala is a miracle – one who walks and talks. Srinala do not walk, nor do they talk. They live only on the edge of death, sleeping and never waking, save to speak in the voices of the dead for those who seek Sunala's favor. For a Srinala to awaken must be a sign of great importance, but it is a matter of the Kindly Ones to understand the import of this, not a lowly one such as I."

"She awoke during a ceremony where she was supposed to have been killed, and for a moment my daughter was the one with the knife in her hands. I think that because Pouncer is not a murderer, it caused whatever was supposed to happen to go wrong." Elijah shakes his head. "We will deal with that brick when it crosses our path. It appears that we both want Srinala taken back safely. We will deal with the rest when there is need. Although I would ask that you examine her for yourself when you meet her, and if there is nothing I can do to stop her from going to Babel, then I will go with you to make sure she isn't murdered as she was intended to be originally."

Sukara bows her head. "There is nothing in my Lady's command that would prohibit me from agreeing to such a thing."

"If I do go with you, you must not tell anyone who I am. But I do not wish to think too far along that thread before it's even spun." Elijah rests his chin in his hand, propping his elbow up on one knee. "Is Srinala being held on Rephidim, then? Not Caroban?"

Sukara nods. "Rephidim, yes, in the Mages' Guild Hall there."

"Is that on the grounds of the Collegia?" the Vartan asks.

"Yes," the bat replies. "I have a reasonably good idea where she is being kept. I saw as if through her eyes."

Elijah's brows knit together. "Did you see her captors? I can't say that I know many mages, but I've met a few."

The black bat closes her eyes and concentrates. "One was a Naga … a spirit mage, I think. Or maybe a mind mage. I'm pretty certain that the Khatta there was a chaos mage. There were others there. I'm not certain which the Naga was, but I feel certain that both a mind mage and a spirit mage were present."

"Are you sure that they intend to kill her? It will take us maybe weeks to get to Rephidim, and for all we know they've done the job already if they're intent enough on doing it." Elijah rubs a talon against a cluster of scars on his stomach.

Sukara shakes her head. "They intended to destroy her in a magical fashion, to use her as a tool against Sunala. I have no idea how much time I may have. If I thought I could fly faster than this airship on my own, I would leap out at once and fly the rest of the way."

"Do you know how they found out about her? We'd tried rather hard to keep her hidden." He rubs his eyes. "So much for getting Caroban to agree to an alliance with the Knights."

The bat shakes her head. "Perhaps one of their seers detected her presence, or perhaps the nature of her being is that spirit mages or mind mages – or dream mages, for that matter – might detect her presence. In magic, all sorts of things are possible, and I should not be so surprised thatin the presence of someone as blessed as she, spell-casters would receive portents and omens of her passing."

"I know there was going to be a pretty potent omen near the borders of Shabar. An entire village was almost murdered. It may interest you to know that some priestesses of Inala were helping Necropolis." He shakes his head again. "I don't want to get off track. When we get to Rephidim, I'll see about getting a map of the guild hall. It may just be you and I, but I'm well trained in fighting magic, especially spirit and mind magic. We'll rescue her."

Sukara nods, and sours at the mention of Inala and Necropolis in the same sentence.

"I've got friends in Safar, maybe pull a few favors to have our ship repaired quickly." He flops back into his mattress. "I wish I knew what to do. It's obvious that Srinala is not safe in Rephidim if they managed to take her from my house, but I feel about as comfortable handing her over to Sunala as I do leaving a baby out on an altar."

"We can deal with that once the Srinala is well and safe enough that it is even an issue," Sukara says. "For now, I am content enough to see that she lives. If I am unable to bring her to Babel, then I am certain my Lady will be pleased enough for now that the Srinala is spared a time longer from the mages."

Elijah nods. "We'd best get some sleep, then. Unless there's anything else I should know about?"

The bat shakes her head. "I can think of nothing … yet. I shall do what I can to sort through the details of my dream, in case there is anything useful I can recall."

"Why did you scream?" The Vartan asks, rolling his head over to peer at Sukara.

Sukara shakes her head. "I … I was feeling what she was feeling. The Srinala. It was … very real."

Elijah frowns, pressing his head into his pillow. "She must be terrified. Even though you may have had sight in the vision, as far as I know Srinala is blind, so being out of contact with her guide must have her frightened. Pouncer is probably upset as well."

The bat nods. "That might explain why I couldn't see anything clearly. It was all a haze. I had difficulty picking out the details. Perhaps my vision represented mental constructions of her environment, from what she heard and felt."

"Is she healthy? Are they feeding her?" He drums hisfingers against the bed frame.

"That," the bat says, "I do not know. I only received fragments of the Srinala's experience." The bat then frowns, in contemplation.

"I will be upset if they have caused her any harm," Elijah growls. "I cannot believe that Caroban would do such a thing."

Sukara shakes her head. "What puzzles the most, however, is that Sunala holds in Her hand above all this the power to strike many dead about the Srinala, if She should so choose. But She stays Her hand, even in the gravity of this situation."

Elijah sighs. "Maybe she can't, Sukara. Maybe she's bound by the same rules of magic as the rest of us on Sinai, and Rephidim touches out of her reach. It would have been easier to strike down the warriors sent to rip through Babelite forces during the war instead of losing so many men, but it didn't happen."

The bat lowers her eyes. "I think I shall try to get some rest now."

The Vartan nods. "If you get any further dreams, let me know. Good night, Dikara"