"Hello…?" 

Fear flashes through me and I panic, dropping the needle onto the barely concious soldier's body. I turn to see the newcomer, and lightning strikes a nearby rooftop, and the streets glow for a moment. 

The newcomer is illuminated for just a second, but I see they're a man–probably a human–close-ish to my age, maybe a little older. His hair is light-colored, and tied in a ponytail. I also note that his clothes are remarkably clean for being in a warzone–definitely not a soldier, then. 

He gasps, and takes a step backwards. There were so many things that could have made him do that–the mud and blood all over me, my metal arm, or maybe my dark hair that clearly hadn't been brushed in the last several weeks. 

"Who are you?" He asks. I don't know, I want to say. I don't remember, and I don't want to remember. 

But instead, I say, "…Kit." It feels better than Kimiko–there's no history tied to the name Kit. Kit is a new person, a new identity. The dying soldier makes a noise and I can feel myself starting to panic again.

"Do you….need help?" 

"Maybe. Yes. I don't know," I say, plainly. My real hand, the left one, is shaking uncontrollably, but my metal hand stays steady. I try to thread the needle, but prick myself and drop it again. 

The newcomer–I realize I never asked for his name–bends down next to me. He winces when he sees the soldier's wound, which is almost completely sealed up, but still gross. 

"I won't blame you if you vomit." My voice is quiet, and for a moment I regret saying it, but then the newcomer flashes a small smile. 

I pick up the needle again. Something about having someone there is comforting and my hands are steadier. I manage to seal up the wound all the way. I notice the soldier's ears–they're pointed, so he must be an elf of some sort.

I turn to the newcomer. "Is there a…hospital, or something? Somewhere we could take him?"

~~~

Kit is Kimiko's new name. I'm going to make a new charrie sheet for them soon, but they use they/them pronouns now. 

~Silverwhisker

The rain soon stops completely, and eventually I see land ahead. It's only a small island, but Goldenfeather swoops higher, her feathers already sky blue. She keeps going over it – the island looks like it's only inhabited by sheep – and we see a couple more islands beyond it. Behind them, misty cliffs rise high above the waves. The Labyrinth Lands. Goldenfeather circles down and lands on the smallest of the islands. The sun is low on the horizon by now, the sky just beginning to turn orange.

~~~

(I'm assuming they'll want to rest before continuing and exploring the Labyrinth Lands.)

omg i forgot something in my last post!

Goldenfeather- 

*this is before she left*

I scribble something hastily on a leaf. 

"I'll miss you, Silver." 

I leave it behind a bush, the one she hid in.  

~Silverwhisker

The sun is low in the sky by the time I look up from my conversation with Ghost. I realise I haven't seen Goldenfeather in… I don't know when. "Have you seen Goldenfeather?" I ask. 

The shapeshifter frowns. "Now that you mention it, no. That's weird." 

I sniff around. The last trace I can find of the dragon is near the blackberry bush. Wait – there's a note. No no no… I whip around to face Ghost. "Can you shift into a bird or something?"

"What – oh."  I show her the note. Her eyes widen, and she soars away.

"Wait, I – " I try to call, but she's already gone. My tail lashes. I can't even see her anymore.

~~~ 

Very nice! This will be interesting. 

Oh! Should've put this in my last post, but…

What if Goldenfeather is captured by someone (Catastrophe?) and Silverwhisker and Ghost have to rescue her? Not that you have to, obviously. Just ideas…

~Silverwhisker

I squeeze my eyes shut. Ghost is turned away from me. I can't… I shake my head and run to the other side of the island, where I crouch down silently and remember Goldenfeather. Not another friend… Night falls. With an effort I get up and walk back to Ghost, who's still lost in grief. In the middle of the small island are a few young trees. Some of them have dropped branches, which I collect and lean against each other awkwardly to form a basic shelter. Something I have Goldenfeather to thank for. I lie down inside it and fall into a troubled sleep.

~~~

Nnooo Goldenfeather…

OK, but what if she's not actually dead? And when she wakes up she'd still remember, but her wings wouldn't work for some reason? At least for a while, by which time Ghost and Silver would be too far away to find again easily. Or maybe it's still too similar to Kit, idk.

For Ghost, what if she doesn't change size when she shapeshifts? Like she could be an elephant but still human-size. Maybe she could still become smaller. I don't know if that helps.

Sorry this is so late! Oh, and yes that idea is genius. 🙂

~Silverwhisker

I flip through the pages silently, missing Goldenfeather already more than words could say. Finally I glance up to Ghost, who's looking over my shoulder quietly. "You've known her for a long time," I say. She nods. I look down, then say, "We need to move on. It's what she would have wanted. We should find the Labyrinth – or what's left of it."

Kit–

Felix knows a nearby hospital and leads me down a set of winding alleys to get there, gunshots firing all around us. I can feel my heart pounding against my chest and I worry that it will pop, like a balloon that's been stepped on. Felix and I manage to share the wait of the unconscious elven soldier between us, but the body is still heavy and we aren't able to move quickly. I wonder if we should have left them, or if we should have taken them to a medical tent–but I remind myself Paralia is a Resistance-occupied city. (At least, that's what Felix had told me.) The hospital is probably where they're already keeping their wounded. 

We manage to survive our trip to the hospital, and my suspicions are confirmed. There's a group of Resistance medics waiting outside the hospital. I guess the hospital must be full, as they've set up tents to store bodies in. I don't know if they're dead or alive and I decide I don't want to know.

"Who in Claaws' name are you?" One of the medics shouts at us. They're short, and thin, with a mess of freckles and ruffled blond hair on their head. They look mostly human but their eyes are strangely animal-like. 

"We're civilians. We're not here to attack," Felix calls. He begins to set the body on the ground and I mirror him, stepping away from it as soon as possible.

"I'm Felix, and this is Kit." He gestures towards me. The medics eye us warily.

"I already stitched up the wound on his…" I trail off. What's the word, again? I realize I can't think of it.  I realize I don't remember the word and I feel scared and worried because what if I forget everything again and I never remember anything again but most of all I feel useless and stupid and now the medic is waiting for me to finish the sentence but I can't remember the damn word and I don't know what to do.

Felix, thank the Powers, seems to sense that I can't speak, and finishes for me. "They stitched up the wound on his abdomen."

Abdomen, that was the word I was looking for, the one I couldn't find but Felix could and I feel stupid and useless and scared–and the medic is giving me a concerned look–and I realize I'm not ready for this, for the real world. Not yet. Not ever.

The medics bring us into the hospital and say we can spend the night there. The building is already packed with other refugees from the city, and I see nurses and doctors bandaging wounds and passing out supplies. I wonder how long I'll be trapped in here, listening to the sounds of the ill and watching death and suffering from the constant droning noise of gunshots. Days. Weeks, maybe. 

I feel like I'm suffocating.

Felix and I are uninjured and so we're guided into a smaller room, which an absurdly low number of peole are in. I guess hardly anyone who was able to get to safety did it safely. I almost feel like laughing at the irony of it.

"Are they…alright?" I hear the blond-haired, freckle-faced medic ask Felix. I notice the medic's greyish-green uniform is covered in blood. I wonder whose body it was once inside of. 

Felix glances at me. "Kit? You're alright, right?"

I nod. "Yeah. I…had kind of an accident a while ago. Damaged my memory a little, that's all." A little. Ha.

"Is that how you lost your arm?" The medic asks. 

I shake my head. "No. Was born without one."

Eventually, the lights are turned out and everyone lays down on one of the white cots lined against the wall. A few of the medics–including the blond, animal-eyed one–end up spending the night in the same room as us. I guess it was the only place with space left. Somehow, I'm able to fall asleep, the sound of gunfire still ringing in my ears.

~~~

Kind of a long post, I'm aware.