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The front door to Tsaron's house shut itself once the last of them were out, and after a short pause they started on the way back to the house. "I can't say I'm surprised, but it's disappointing he can't do more," Loren said. "Anyway, we've no choice but to assume him to be the expert when it comes to mind magic/telepathy interactions."
"Hey, it's not all bad," said the shifter. "He thinks the seal's supposed to let memories out naturally over time. If you're feeling impatient though, the first one came after a big goblin hit my head, so we could always—"
"No," Loren interrupted, and Clera along with him.
"Hey, it's a joke! I'm joking," she said, putting up her hands toward both of them. "I don't want any more head injuries for a while, either. They ssssuuuck."

"Good." He nodded, then took a second to look around and see where they were. "Well, I think I should return to my temporary residence here for now. I haven't exactly had the time to settle in yet."
"Sure. See you tomorrow? Uuuh...well, probably late afternoon or something, I need to get some blood in me soon to stay sane," Aria said, extending a hand to shake.
"Rrright. Yes. That's fine." He nodded, shaking her hand while visibly processing the casual declaration that she needed to go kill something soon in order to not go mad. Then he split off from the group toward wherever the Captain had gotten him as a place to stay.

Once he seemed to be out of earshot, Lynn said quietly, "So, speaking of memories. I actually got Tsaron to admit he'd seen us thinking about Earth."
"You did?" Rayna said. "So why didn't—"

"He didn't say anything about it for the same reason we usually don't around other people. I mean, it sounds crazy."

She took a moment to relate the conversation she'd had to the rest of them.

"Well, that's." Clera started. "I'm uncertain whether it's reassuring or not."

"It's a little weird, but sounds just like him, anyway," Katherine said.

"Wa—wait," the foxgirl said, putting up a finger. "He said he saw two sets of memories in all of us?"

"Yeah. His words were 'every one of you'. I mean, I assume that he didn't see many memories in Aria for obvious reasons, and Clera's are different I guess?" The winged girl nodded. "But..."

"What about Katherine?"

"..What about me?"

"Well—" Lynn started, catching on to Rayna's meaning. "Your dreams are that 'astral projection' thing, and have been since you got here, right? So, no time for memories to show up in dreams the way they did for most of us. Do you have memories from here?"

"...Yes,"she said, nodding. "Over the last few days or so, a part of my mind's filled up with memories of a life here. I don't know if it was at night, or...when it was. Just always when I wasn't looking at it. Seems like I had a normal enough childhood, and then...when I was eleven or twelve, there's a day I don't remember. After that I had powers. Classic X-men 'people treating me like a freak' for the next few years, so I left once I was old enough to find somewhere people didn't know about my powers. Then—I travelled for a while, working as a fortune teller. It's not hard to make convincing 'special effects' for just one person, and there's a lot of things people want to ask a fortune teller for that a psion can actually answer. But, I had to abandon the crystal ball and robes and stuff when I went to one country and people figured out what I was really doing, it was illegal to fortune tell or to pretend to or something...sooo, running from the law took me out here." She nodded briefly, as if to herself. "I guess since then, being somewhere more accepting of my powers has had me use them a lot more publicly. Again, classic X-men stuff."

"How long have you been afraid of water?" Zack asked.
"Hmn? Oh, uh. I guess...since the day I can't remember. Whatever it is that happened then, must've done it. That's a good point..."

"Wait, you're afraid of water?" Rayna said, incredulous.

The catgirls ears folded. "Deep water. Rivers, lakes. You know—drowning. Not like, rain or puddles or baths. And I know it's irrational, especially since I wasn't back on Earth."

"Still, that's just too perfect. Cat afraid of water?" The foxgirl giggled.
"We already made that joke ages ago," Katherine said, glaring. "In fact I feel like I've been dealing with it my whole life now, so it really isn't funny to me."

"Sorry, sorry. I'm sure whoever 'really' came up with that must've thought it was hilarious, though."

"Hey, so—to change the subject," Aria said, moving a little closer to Katherine. "Tsaron said you should be able to read my mind and include me in mental conversations and stuff, by now."
"Yeah?"
"Right. He said all you'd need to do was filter out any thoughts of blood and death and stuff and that should be mostly fine."
"I'll try it..." Katherine concentrated for a second, setting up the filter. Can you hear this?

Yes! "YES! It works!" she said, fistpumping. "Finally not left out anymore! Although I doubt I'll be thinking of much else in berserk-mode."

"I'm a little curious what—how much everyone else remembers, from this world," Rayna said. "Let's see—Lynn and I remember meeting pretty young, traveling around the world doing our regular show for any town that'd let us stop by..."
"..and eventually deciding to come out to the frontier to put some better use to our abilities and hopefully make better money," the archer finished. "Shortly after I started studying magic and figured out how to shoot elemental arrows."

"I don't seem to possess any memories of this world," said Clera. "Aside from the 'original' Clera's. Which...we've been over before."

"I put together quite a bit just last night," the witch chimed in. She went on to relate the same backstory she'd given Loren earlier for everyone who hadn't been in earshot at the time. When she said the name of the witch who had been her mentor, Zack had a thoughtful expression and nodded to himself, muttering 'Griselda, right' under his breath.

"Ooh, do you have something to share with the class too?" Mira said, looking toward the knight. Zack gave an annoyed grunt that sounded a little like a growl, but nodded.
"I had a lot of memories come to me from dreams, too, yeah. Nothing really..big, besides what you all already know about. Seems like I was a younger son of one of the lesser noble families—basically middle class, for this world. So I got pushed into becoming a knight to 'represent the family' or something, and joined an order. I had talent with the sword and holy magic, so I was promoted to a mid-high position not long after the training was over. Usually we'd go out fighting monsters, or hunting down the more dangerous criminals...until one day the order was commanded to go to the tower of the evil witch Griselda, and destroy her and her summoned demons once and for all. All of the higher-ranking members went, and some of the newer knights as support. Nearly the only people we left behind were either too young to have reached the point of knighthood yet, or too old to do much more than train the newbies."

He gave a heavy sigh. "Apart from what happened to me, everyone was dead. I had—family, sure, but every friend I can remember having in this world was another member of the order. She killed every one of them. Even—" Zack's voice cracked slightly from a small burst of emotion he hadn't been expecting. He caught it, stopped, and took a deep breath to attempt to dispel it. "Even if I hadn't been cursed, I don't think I would've had much reason to stay where I was." It was still there, a slight, irritating waver, but he succeeded in saying all that, at least.

Everyone was quiet for a minute or so of walking after hearing that. It was hard to come up with anything to say.

Zack decided the silence was getting unbearable, and tried continuing: "Even though I accomplished what we set out to do, as the survivor I still disgraced myself by failing to protect any of my comrades. So—it sounds a little stupid, but I swore not to say the order's name. Especially not to call myself a member of it anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear about all that," Mira said. "And I thought my backstory was sad."

"It doesn't affect me that much, now," he said, shaking his head. "I had to keep going, and try to move past it, and by this point I've moved so far past it that it's rare to feel anything at all."

"Aww, that's even worse," she said.

"Let's just—change the subject. Nora, do you remember much?"

"Hmn? U-um, yes," she nodded. "I-I, um. I was raised b-by some priests of Haestra. All my earliest memories are there, so, I don't really know anything ab-about my 'real' family. Bbut they were like my family. I was t-treated well, and taught many things. There was a vast library there and I spent m-much of my free time reading books from it. And, eventually I wanted to leave, t-to put my powers to use doing actual good in the world somewhere. I r-ran away from home, then, and after using my powers to help people with their problems in a few different countries, I made up my mind to go to the frontier. Th-then, I was on my way to this city. I was passing by a certain cave, and saw two people come out and fly off...and g-got curious, so I went in. There were all the dead goblins, and that was when I m-met you," she said, nodding. "Um, actually I wound up outside the cave wh-when I first left the uh, class picking place..."

"You know, I think I understand a little better what Tsaron meant when he said the memories were 'in tune'," Lynn said, with a thoughtful expression.
"What's that?" Rayna prompted her, half-instinctively.
"Well—just, the way we've been talking about it. I mean, I didn't say 'Lynn was a traveling performer, archer, studied magic'..I kept using the first person. It feels like something that actually happened to me, stuff I actually did; I have emotions from it...just the same as the real memories from Earth. They're both there, and they both inform who I feel like I am now...neither one feels exactly false."
"Yeah..that's the same way for me too," the foxgirl nodded. "It's funny, you remember what you said about us being on the way to not being ourselves...?"
"Oh. Yeah. But it's kinda..."
"It's more like we're still ourselves, but with more memories. Nothing taken away, but somehow more added?"

"Not all of it good," Katherine interjected. "I can see it, though. It's better than a few alternatives I could think of, I guess."

"We're here," Zack reported from the front of the group, taking out his key and opening the door to the house.

---

After supper, Katherine and Nora waited in the living room for a knock on the door to town. Zack was out hitting the training dummy with a wooden sword, and the wolf was with him for the moment, but it would only be a bit of mental communication to get them back inside when the wolf was needed. Nora, as usual, was reading; Katherine was leaning back with her eyes closed, just taking in the mental landscape of the house for the moment (yet another thing that would be difficult to describe or explain to a non-psion).

Hey, Kath. The elf looked up from her book, thinking of something. The reply was a mental question mark. The door to town, it's some kind of magic space-linking...I assume it transmits someone knocking 'artifically'?

Maybe. That makes more sense than it somehow being the same door, or being permanently physically connected in a way that carries sound.

And it only links the space when it's open, right?

When it's unlocked, she said in minor correction. It's more secure that way, and uses less of its 'power' by not needing to always be active.

So—if that's correct then you can't detect minds through it right now, right? You wouldn't know who's knocking.

That's right, yeah. I can detect minds when it's open, but not when it's closed. I guess the 'folded space' is good enough for my powers to work through?

You should probably answer whoever knocks first. He'll know I live here and ask about me. Jacob might just be confused to see me instead of you.
I don't see why he would be. I made it clear I live here with a bunch of other people. Anyway, sure, I'll get the door first. You feeling shy, huh?

It's. Just imagine that you ran away from home, and stayed away from home for over two years. And then you found out your—grandfather, or something, was on his way to your apartment to see how you were doing. Even though there isn't the pressure of facing the whole of the family you left behind...I'm nervous.

Yeah, I can see that.

Katherine paused for a moment, her tail picking up a bit more frequency in its usual twitching. You know something? I'm a little nervous myself.

You are? Nora looked up from her book again, examining the catgirl's face for a second. Why?

I, haven't told anyone else this. Let's keep it a secret, okay?
Sure...? The elf was obviously wondering what Katherine would even want to hide.
I'm actually attracted to him. A little. Like, mentally. I don't know how to put this so it'll make sense to you, but I can 'see' people's minds and his is attractive to me. She was looking off to the side slightly, a slight red tint to her face. It's..sort of the real reason I wanted to help him with his research so badly. The main one, with the one I'm, thinking of using as an excuse an important secondary...

Why not just be honest about it? Nora thought. Maybe you can't explain the nature of the attraction, but it's not exactly a rational thing when it's physical, either.

I can see right now how almost everyone will react to it. Katherine accompanied this with a mental, exasperated sigh. Mira and Rayna will start shipping it right away, maybe Lynn too. Aria will find some way to be obnoxious about it. I'm...this makes no sense, but I'm especially worried about how Zack will feel.

He probably won't care? Nora suggested

Exactly. It's nonsense. Anyway, I don't even know whether this'll go anywhere or not. I've met him one time and this'll be the second. I just don't want to deal with all of that until I actually make some kind of serious decision. And, if I decide I'm really not interested after all I don't have to disappoint anyone. Or..whatever it is that they'd feel, anyway.

That much is fair, the elf thought. You'll still answer the door first?

Yeah, of course. I'm not that nervous. It's more 'eager-anticipation' nervous than 'this'll-be-an-awkward-conversation-no-matter-what-I-do' like yours.

So, you won't tell anyone, right?
You're already keeping one of my secrets, Nora reminded her. I guess it's just what friends do after a while.

Among other things, yep, the catgirl replied with a slight, physical nod. She jumped slightly at the sound of a knock on the door almost immediately afterward. Then the catgirl gathered herself, stood up, and headed toward the door. Here we go, eh?

I suppose so...

The psion unlocked and opened the door with her mind once it was before her. It seemed Nora's visitor had gotten here first: The person standing before her was an old, tall Vulpin man with long, gray hair; the fur on his tail and ears was nearly as gray as his hair, with just touches of red here and there. His left ear had its upper half missing and there was a scar just above his right eye, and a few more of them on his torso. He was wearing a garment that vaguely reminded her of what Nora had started off in. It was a sort of robe for the lower body that left his torso exposed; he was reasonably fit, so the outfit didn't look as bad as one might fear it would on an old man. "Hello there," he said with a small nod. "Pardon the intrusion, but I've been led to believe someone I know lives here. Do you know a Nora?"

Katherine observed that his surface thoughts were unguarded, but his mind had a kind of bristling to it that made her 'instinctively' (as much as that applied to her powers) not want to dig any deeper. Maybe this was another way mental defenses could look; not that she had any intentions of digging there anyway. "Sure, she's in the living room," the catgirl reported, nodding. "Who should I say's looking for her?"

"Oh, sincerest apologies. I go by Fazren," he said with another small nod.

Just so I know Tsaron isn't pulling anything: You know a Fazren? Katherine sent a mental image of what she was seeing.

Yes! I recognize his voice, too.

"Well, come on in," she said, moving out of the way and gesturing toward the living room. Nora was, intentionally or not, feeding Katherine a little more information about him as she remembered it. Describing him as a grandfather wasn't far off: He was kind, gentle, had a corny sense of humor about him. However, his skill weaving the elements was not to be underestimated; one time a large monster had come near the temple, and she'd seen him use fire from a single torch to reduce it to ash before it could even come near him. The catgirl decided to stay in the entrance hallway rather than butt into their conversation.

His face lit up as soon as he saw her. "Ahh, Nora my dear!" he said.
"Um, hello." She stood up slowly, but then moved closer to him and bent over slightly to give him a hug, which he returned eagerly. They let go, standing a bit apart, and he looked over her for a moment.
"Well, you're looking as healthy as ever. It's good to see you," he said, with a nod.

"You too. Umm, you look...ab-about the same, anyway."

"Hahah, you wound me, my dear," he said jokingly.

"Um, p-please take a seat," she said, indicating the nearest couch.

"Oh, gladly." He sat down, and was quiet for a moment, looking around the room. Nora sat across from him and waited patiently for him to catch his breath or gather his thoughts (whichever it was), and speak. "Well, I'm sure you're wondering what I'm doing here," he said finally.

"I'm j-just, glad to see you," she said. "But I'd be lying if I s-said I wasn't curious."

"Hahah, indeed. Well, I'm not here to drag you back to the temple if that's what you're worried about. Many of us were worried when you disappeared, and disappointed once we realized you'd just left without saying goodbye, but I know why it was. Some of the youngsters gave you the impression you couldn't leave, and that's probably my fault, after all."

"Th-that was...everyone kept saying I wasn't ready. I needed more years of training before I'd be able to handle the outside world," she said. "But I've.."
"You've been doing just fine for yourself," he preemptively agreed. "I would've thought so. Your talents far surpassed mine at your age, and you're an elf, so gods willing you'll have longer to refine them than I have, too. I wouldn't be surprised if experience using those talents in real life-or-death situations hasn't taught you things the regimen of prayer, meditation and practice never could have."

"Th-that's true enough..." she said, feeling a little shy about the near-praise.

"Hahah! No need to be embarrassed, my dear. Just stating the facts."

Fazren leaned forward a little bit. "However, there is a thing or two we didn't have a chance to tell you about. And particularly, some secrets I can only regret keeping from you for so long. The others let me be the one to go out and check on you because I told them as much." And then he leaned back again. "Nora...what is your earliest memory?"
"Um..." She had earlier memories as Norrin, but that obviously didn't apply here. "I-I can remember, running around the temple. Maybe, eight or n-nine years old?" she said. "Th-there isn't much..."
"Mmh. Well, maybe it's no surprise to you, as sharp as you are, but you certainly weren't born there," Fazren said. "Truth is, we..don't really know where you were born or exactly when. Your 'birthday' is the day you were brought to the temple, since it didn't seem right to leave you without one."
"I see..." she said, with a small nod. "S-so—"
"Where'd we find you, eh?" he interrupted with her question. "I can answer that in greater detail than most anyone else. My dear, I am one of those who found you." His expression turned serious, which was unusual and worrying from him. "There are...people in this world who see certain others as no better than livestock to be traded for coin. That trade has been outlawed in most civilized countries for well over a century, but it doesn't stop those who care not for the law from carrying it on when they think they can get away with it. Some of the other priests and I were called in to investigate something suspicious about a smaller temple, in a certain city. What we found was a very well-hidden chamber full of people. You understand?"

"I-I think I do," she said.

"Nobody there was older than fifteen," he said. "Most were old enough to speak—to tell us who had put them there, and where their homes and families were, if they were even alive. But you were the youngest, and it seemed as if you were completely mute. After returning home, or finding adoption, for all of the other children—you were still with us. We tried, for a few years, to find your original family; we kept you in the temple, thinking someday perhaps we would find them. Even after you began to speak, it became clear you didn't know where you had come from. Not everyone responsible for that room had been brought to justice, and we worried that they or someone worse would find you if we put you out there to be found."

He sighed. "I confess to a little selfishness—after a while, we didn't really want you to leave. And, when you were—well, a little while after what we called your tenth birthday, you showed signs of having Haestra's gift. Some took it as her blessing, for you to stay there with us at least until you were grown. But a little of that fear and protectiveness stayed with us, even after you were clearly a woman grown. I suppose I instilled it in those I taught while you were still little. Some of them even became convinced that Haestra was 'saving you' for some particular great deed, and that everyone would know when it was time for that to happen." He gave a dry, slightly sad chuckle. "I suppose if that's true then we did all find out, but only after you."

They were both quiet for a minute or two. After which, Nora said, "So, I suppose I've always had this um..sp-speech impediment."
"As long as I've known you, at least," Fazren said. "I guessed that it was some distant echo of whatever happened when you were taken from your family. We tried for a long while to correct it, and there was some success, but I am sorry we failed to get it entirely cured.

"At any rate..I want you to know, if you ever feel like visiting the temple again, there are still people there who think of you as family, and would delight in seeing you again. I've made it as clear as I could to them that you shouldn't be compelled to stay if you do, but I'm certain you know your way out again if they try."

"Th-thank you. I um..I think of you all as my family too," she said quietly.

"Good to hear, my dear," he said with a bright grin.

"Well, with that sorry business out of the way, there is one other thing I must tell you about." He sat up, looking cheerful but more business-like in expression. "You might have heard those with powers like ours called Weavers, or perhaps even Spirit Weavers. Right?"

"Yes..uh, once or twice," she nodded.

"We perceive the pattern of nature, the elements, and our powers let us bend and mix its strings freely, without the aid of the spell-words or rituals that mages use." This part was rote information that she already knew. "However, the most skilled among us, and I don't doubt that you are, can become capable of a kind of weaving with spirits far more complex than the base elements," he said; this part was new. "Our world is blessed, whether by Haestra or not we don't know, with people whose nature is close to that of beasts—such as myself, of course," Fazren continued, placing a hand to his own chest.

"Felis, Vulpin, and Canis carry in their souls the nature of the animal they are said to have once risen up from. Under certain, ah..'conditions', a weaver can learn to wind his or her own spirit into something like theirs, and take on some of the physical characteristics and advantages of that beast. Avians...well, while they are beastfolk, those 'conditions' are especially difficult to manage with them, and there are no confirmed instances when a weaver has done it. Although we might just not know about it, since sufficiently skilled weavers are rare enough as it is."

"Um..I th-think I might know what you mean," Nora said.

"Oh?" Fazren leaned forward slightly, looking eagerly curious.
"W-well, um...a c-couple of nights ago I had a st-strange kind of dream..."

She related the dream with the Canis woman that had seemingly caused new skills to appear for her—although of course she didn't mention the skill tree itself.

"After that, um...and s-something else happened, I-I became able to do this," she said, and shifted to the wolfish form.

"Oh!" The old priest grinned widely. "Truly impressive. I suppose you didn't need my help with this part after all, heheh. I won't ask about the 'something else', of course, but I do wonder..how would you describe the woman who appeared in your dream?"

"Well, um...sh-she was..." Nora had some difficulty putting it into words.
"More to the point, would you agree the word 'beautiful' applied to her? Did she have some traits of someone you'd describe that way?"

"I, s-suppose so." Then, after a brief pause: "..Yes. I, th-think that's right. She was..."

"Again, no details needed," he said with a slight wave. "She certainly didn't resemble Haestra, of course—not possessing the body of a horse. My guess is that Aphera had the god of dreams arrange a personal visit for her, for one reason or another. Maybe that guess about some special destiny for you is right after all, if two of the gods are interested in you."

"Uh. M-maybe," she said, feeling a little embarrassed again.
"Well, that's all the more reason to stay out here where you are for the moment," he said. "They would hardly give an encouraging visit to someone 'going the wrong direction', after all."

"Anyway," Fazren said after a moment's pause, "that's all of the 'official' business I had. But there's no reason to cut my visit short if you'll have me. My dear, I'm certain everyone back at the temple wonders what you've been up to all this time—I know I have, although I've heard rumors here and there! And if you're curious, I could share how things are going back home, at least as of the time I left, anyway.
"C-certainly," Nora said. "Um..."